School of The Gifted
by kixotical
Summary: When eight dragons recieve an invitation inviting them to a school for dragonets with strange abilities just like them, they couldn't be more excited. But when strange creatures begin to pick off the students one by one, the students entrap themselves in a mystery bigger than themselves, and they realize some secrets should remain buried...
1. Prologue

**Just a disclaimer; this chapter mentions a bit of IceWing culture, so it makes a bit more sense if you've read 'Winter Turning'.**

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 **Chapter II | Prism**

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 **There is power held in the surface of a mirror.**

While it may look like just a reflective piece of glass, Prism learned long ago that that was far from true. Ever since she was a young IceWing, she had for whatever reason understood the things and values that could be held in a mirror.

Mirrors represented uncertainty. Power. Beauty. Vain. Reflection. Honesty. For some reason, in every scroll whenever a beam is shot it bounces off a mirror. The Evil Queen has a magic mirror of her own that tells her who is the fairest of the all.

And when dragons look into a mirror, despite what's said, they can see more than just their appearance. A single reflection can cause a dragon to become shallow and vain, or hatred and self-doubt whenever they see their appearance. To hold a mirror is like to hold the very essence of the dragon race.

This might seem a bit obsessive, but personally, it's not. Well, Prism didn't think so. Whatever. Most dragons didn't understand what she meant. In fact, most dragons didn't understand a lot of things. They don't understand the concept of worlds beyond their own, and if they did, the last place they would look was beyond the reflective surface of a mirror.

But Prism did. Prism of the IceWings checked, and she got her answer.

Mirror jumping. That's what her and her brother Frostbite call it.

The thing about mirror jumping, is that she was able to jump between mirrors, if that makes any sense. Basically, say she's looking at a mirror in her bedroom. She can look through it, and step out into any nearby mirror. Note that she said _nearby._ I can't go to like, the other side of Pyrrhia or anything.

And the thing about living half in a mirror is that you see lots of dragons faces, and are able to determine their emotions and feelings, even if they don't show it. When I stepped on the school grounds, I couldn't explain it, but I could tell. I don't know why, but I could tell that things were different here.

And when Secretflame stepped on stage? Pssh, she could tell even before her wings basically became flaming dart-throwers. But that hadn't squelched her excitement. For once in her life, Prism felt like she finally belonged somewhere.

As soon as Secretflame stepped off the stage, she knew the assembly, or whatever it was was over. Dragons began to disperse here and there, some of them going over to the table and grabbing pamphlets.

Unsure of what to do, Prism searched around in the brown satchel wrapped around her waist, her long, serrated claws scouring through the contents. An artist drawing of her and Frostbite, a single handheld mirror with a silver handle, and finally, a light purple pamphlet with the words _Secretflame's School for Gifted Dragonets_ sprawled across the top.

Suddenly, as Prism held the paper, her claws began quivering with excitement as the reality of what was going on sunk in. This was real. This was actually happening. No more having to hide what she felt. No more feeling alone in the world. No more getting by with a sixth circle ranking and pretending it didn't hurt every day.

As she held the pamphlet in my claws, Prism realized what it meant. It meant everything she hated about her life was finally over. Eagerly, she began to open the pamphlet. If they had roommates (and she assumed they did) her heart brimmed with the hope that maybe, they would have abilities like hers. Maybe. She wasn't entirely sure worked.

Prism began to read the introduction at the beginning of the pamphlet, but quickly got bored. Reading had always been Frostbite's thing, not hers. She preferred to jump straight to the point as opposed to spending time wallowing in minor details.

Dragging a claw down the page, Prism continued to skim the paper until she finally came across what I was looking for: dorms. Talons shaking eagerly, she didn't have to look long before I saw the words _Prism: IceWing_ listed under Dorm 1. _Let's see,_ she thought to herself as she looked at who she would be sharing a room with.

 _A NightWing named Bonespeaker, a SandWing named Sunset, and a RainWing named Mist. Huh. Simple enough list_ , she thought. However, Prism learned after years and years of experience that looks did little to portray what a dragon was really like on the inside.

 _But they could be different,_ a tiny voice at the back of her mind whispered. _They could pinpoint your weaknesses. Make you feel small like before._ Suddenly, Prism's eagerness dropped as this new thought came to mind. _Or they couldn't be,_ she argued back. _You don't know that!_

Whatever. I had to get to my room, and anyways, it probably wasn't good to argue with voices in your head. Digging through her bag, she groped through the contents until she finally found what she was looking for: a single silver handheld mirror. Taking a deep breath, Prism closed her eyes and held the mirror straight in front of her. After a while, Prism had found that if she concentrated hard enough, it was possible to take the mirror with her.

Closing my eyes, she set it down on the cobblestone ground and took a deep breath; mirror jumping was still an eerie process that took some mastering. Making sure she was concentrating completely, Prim let every limb go loose like liquid, bit her lip, and jumped headfirst into the mirror.

Now, the thing about mirror jumping is that it kind of acts like a portal to a place Prism just called the mirror dimension. See, the mirror dimension isn't one place or another. It's in between. As Prism slowly peeled open my deep black eyes, she remembered not to jump when I saw that I was standing despite there being a lack of...well, a floor.

Shades of light blue and silver swirled around her eyes as the mirror dimension came into focus. Slowly, like a long hallway, dozens and dozens of what could only be called doorways began to open up along the dimension. Basically, it was like a rectangular shaped hole, and on the other side of that hole was a different place.

Prism saw kitchens, lounges, libraries, and all sorts of places begin to unfold before my eyes, This was the mirror dimension, and this was her safe place.

Still, something seemed a bit...different about her 'safe place'. It was weird because she didn't remember it happening when she had been close enough to the academy to mirror jump here. It was like there was something...dark here. Also, it was cold. And she didn't mean the kind of cold in the Ice Kingdom, she used to that kind of cold.

No, Prism meant the kind of cold that creeps under your scales and works your way through your body and makes you feel like you'll never be warm again.

Sighing, the young IceWIng tried not to dwell on it too much as she looked through the rooms, looking for anything that might indicate a mirror leading into Dorm 1. After much, much searching and peering through different mirrors, she finally found one that probably led to Dorm 1.

Well, okay, she was kind of certain of it. It looked like she could only see the inside of the dorm, but above it was a crest of two dragons with arched backs, their necks coiled and the number 1 between them. This was it. Taking a deep breath, Prism looked forward, then stepped through the mirror.

It wouldn't be until later that she would notice the dark, cloaked figure lurking behind me.


	2. I: Welcome to School

**Chapter I | Eagle**

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 **Eagle knew something was up as soon as be saw the school.**

Well okay, that wasn't true. He knew something was up as soon as he got the letter. He hadn't taken a test. He hadn't won anything. He wasn't even sure how they got his name, since apparently in the Sky Kingdom, mere 'street rats' weren't important enough to keep record of.

He went to a run down school with dirty, wooden tables rather than desks with far too many students for the building. He didn't have any money, any parents, not even a real home. He lived in a shed in the back of a boarded up bakery.

So there was absolutely no reason he should be getting this letter. He knew about several schools for gifted dragonets throughout the territory, but those kids were either rich, geniuses, or could afford to go there.

So yeah, there were some holes in the theory. Also, they didn't even ask for a signature from a parent or guardian, which he knew for a fact was also weird.

Despite everything...um, _off_ about it, he wasn't about to turn the school down. According to the letter, it was a boarding school, which meant he could finally escape the hellhole that was his home. That in itself was a huge bonus, so much in fact that he would have gone no matter what.

Still, as he broke through the white layer of cloud that had surrounded him as he flew miles to the new school, and then actually _saw_ the school, he was beginning to wonder if him being accepted had been a mistake.

The school was _way_ too fancy. In fact, it looked like it used to be some sort of castle. Itt probably was, but one of those old, medieval ones, not one of the newer ones like Queen Rose's palace. No, it was made of old gray cobblestone, with dull greenish vines and ivy growing over the surface.

At the front of the two large, wooden doors was a large courtyard surrounded by hedges, with a marble fountain in the center. From up here, he thought he could see the small shapes of dragons milling around inside it, but he couldn't really tell.

Still, it all seemed too...nice. Places like this didn't give our scholarships to just anyone, and Eagle didn't think he seemed like the type of dragon who would get invited to come to a place like this. For a moment, a stone settled in his stomach as he wondered if it was all a trap.

Maybe this wasn't really a school. Maybe it was a prison, and he was being brought here to be tested. Maybe someone had found out. The thought almost made him want to drop into the sea right there, and he bit down on his lip so hard he tasted the bitter tang of blood.

As he did, a small, purple flame, flickering with life, bloomed in Eagle's claws. Horrified, Eagle looked down at the flame, then quickly grasped his talons together in a fist. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. Relieved, Eagle let out a sigh. If he was going to even last a day here, he couldn't just go around setting things on fire.

Taking a deep breath, Eagle slowly, slowly flew down to the courtyard and put on his winning smile. What he lacked in money and importance, he made up for in charm. Talking a shopkeeper into giving him an extra loaf of bread was how he had stayed alive all these years, and it had gotten him out of some questionable situations.

If he was charming enough, then they wouldn't notice when things seemed out of place. They wouldn't notice the growing heat in his claws. Carefully, he tried not to think about it, and landed softly on the courtyard ground, taking a deep breath.

To be honest, he was surprised. This was way less students than he thought there would be. Maybe there wasn't as many gifted students as he once thought. However, he noticed that some dragons shifted around a bit when they saw dragons from other tribes, something he could't understand, no matter how much he tried.

Living on the outskirts of the Sky Kingdom rather than closer to the palace it, he saw SandWings, IceWings, and even the occasional RainWing passing through more than any normal SkyWing should. Then, remembering the purple flame blooming in his claws, he shrugged his shoulders. Since when had normal ever been an option for him?

Looking around, he realized it seemed like any normal school open house. There were tables covered in refreshments, though most of them seemed fit to different dragons, such as fruit for the RainWings and raw fish for the SeaWings. To his relief, he noticed normal food such as goats and pigs on the table as well.

The courtyard was quite spacious and surrounded with flowers, which, making Eagle nervous, he noticed seemed quite flammable. The large marble fountain he noticed while flying, he now realized featured the seven different tribes of dragons all in a circle, spitting water out of their mouths in seven large arcs., which landed in a marble bowl, which water overflowed out of back into the base of the fountain.

A raised parapet stood on one end of the courtyard, and oddly enough, there was a single rock lying in the center of it, round and gray. This caused Eagle to arch an eyebrow at it, though the thing that made him curious enough was the students.

Most of them looked normal enough, but they all had this odd... _vibe_ about them that Eagle just couldn't place his claw on. Like there was something different about them. Still, there were some that stood out altogether. Two SandWings, a boy and a girl, lingered in the shadows of the building.

They both had a hard-core, suspicious look about them, and Eagle noticed the boy had a long scar running the length of his face on his left side, and with a shock he noticed that the eye it was drawn across was a blind, milky white. The other one, who appeared to be his sister, regarded the other dragons suspiciously.

Both were whispering to each other in a way that made Eagle nervous, but he decided to brush it off. The SkyWing kingdom was full of all sorts of shady types, and if you survived long enough you had to know how to brush them off or avoid them altogether.

As he wandered around, Eagle began to get bored, wondering if they were supposed to be waiting for something. As he walked around, however, he finally noticed something on the other side of the courtyard. A simple table, round with a white tablecloth draped over it, and in the center was a stack of pamphlets.

Strolling over to the table, Eagle finally got a better look at it, and he realized it was much like the letter he had received, only on the pamphlet the words _'Secretflame's School For Gifted Dragonets'_ was written in golden cursive on the pale violet paper.

As he walked over, he realized there was another dragonet by the table, a young NightWing girl. At first glance, it was hard to tell she was a NightWing though, because of a long, black cloak over her body, held in place by a single silver clasp the shape of a skull right under her hood.

She stood by the table, looking through the pamphlets, only for some reason she had two. "Um, excuse me," Eagle said, brushing past her and making the gesture to lightly brush aside her talon and grab a pamphlet.

Almost as soon as he did, the girl whipped her talon away, so fast Eagle could actually hear the air whip, and that he barely blinked before she was clutching her talon close to her chest. Surprised, Eagle took a few steps backwards, and realized the girl's chest was rising up and down as she breathed heavily.

The force from whipping her hand away had knocked off the hood that shrouded her face. To be honest, Eagle wasn't sure if she was a NightWing or not before, but not he was sure when he saw her. Her face was long and skinny, with deep violet horns coiling up behind her head, which Eagle noticed were also unusually thin.

Her scales didn't have as many stars in them as a usual NightWing did, and he noticed her complexion was kind of pale an ghostly. But the most unusual thing about her was her eyes. Rather than the normal black or purple, these eyes were a weird, silvery gray, which seemed as if she looked directly at you, she could stare directly into your soul.

For a moment, Eagle remembered his own unusual eyes, which were a violent purple rather than the usual SkyWing amber or orange, and unconsciously he slowly reached a talon up to them.

The two dragons stood there for a moment, just staring at each other, the NightWing girl recoiled a bit as she held her talon, her shoulders hunched and her eyes having a haunted look in them. Eagle, however, recovered quickly, and regarded the girl with an arched eyebrow at her erratic behavior.

"What was that about?" He said, which, now that he thought about it, seemed very rude and made him want to kick himself. The question seemed to make the girl even more confused, and she began to stutter, as if she were trying to come up with a valid excuse.

"I-I, um...well, I thought I saw a spider on the stack," she said, and even before she finished speaking, Eagle knew she was lying. Growing up in his town, Viper, he could spot a lie as easily as he could spot the moons. Still, he didn't say anything about it.

"Must have been a big spider," he said skeptically, and the girl gulped, her face turning an embarrassed shade of red. "Well...I guess..." she said. Almost instantly Eagle felt regret. He hadn't even been at the school a full hour, and already he was making a... _memorable_ first impression on someone who could quite possibly be his classmate.

"Let's start over," he said as friendly as possible, flashing a charismatic grin. "I'm Eagle. And you are..." he said, waiting for her to finish the sentence as he held out a talon, waiting for her to shake it.

For a moment, the girl froze, as if she were listening to someone speak, though there was no one Eagle could see anywhere close enough to them to be within earshot. After a few moments, NightWing the girl finally spoke up and said,"I'm Bone-"

"Wait-let me guess. Bone... _crusher._ Bonedestroyer. Bonedemolisher." Eagle began to guess, and now it was the girl's turn to look confused. "Bonedemolisher? I-"

"No no no, wait," Eagle continued, pressing a talon to his temples. "Oh fart nuggets...um...Bonesplitter. Bonehoarder. No? Boneripper. Bone-" hr continued, going off of what he remembered to be accurate NightWing names-usually full of gore or winning battles, or something celebrating how amazingly 'great' (cue air quotes) they thought they were. He couldn't finish guessing, however, before the girl interrupted him.

"It's Bone _speaker_ ," the girl finally said, exasperated. "Not Bonesplitter. Not Bonedestroyer. Bone _speaker._ " Eagle arched an eyebrow. "Bonespeaker? That's a weird NightWing name. Do you speak to bones or something?" He joked, but oddly enough, Bonespeaker's face went pale, paler than it already was at least.

"Um...no, I-" she began, but thankfully for her, a loud voice split the air. Startled, everyone in the courtyard looked over at the parapet as Eagle quickly snatched a pamphlet, and looked up as an older NightWing stepped onto the stage.

She was a woman, with scales black as midnight, and unlike Bonespeaker, her wings sparkled with the pattern of silver stars, and her wise eyes were two deep pools of violet.

As she began to speak, Eagle shot a quick look at Bonespeaker herself, who was now only a few feet away. There was something about the young NightWing's eerie and mysterious presence that intrigued him, but he couldn't think about it for long before the woman started speaking.

"Good morning, students," she said, speaking into the rock that had been placed on the stage, and to Eagle's amazement, it started amplifying her voice so that it could be heard from all corners of the courtyard.

 _It must be animus touched!_ Eagle thought to himself in awe. For a moment he wondered if this woman, whom he assumed was Headmaster Secretflame, was an animus. However, he quickly ruled that thought out.

He had met an animus before, or at least seen one. It was from afar, but he had seen Queen Rose at her coronation after she killed the previous queen, Queen Dawn. She was an animus herself, and the way he saw it, Eagle thought it more a sixth sense than a power.

For some reason, even though she hadn't publicly announced it yet, he could tell that she was an animus. He could just sort of...tell. He got a tingling feeling in his wings, and he could sense it in the way she walked, the way she held herself, the way the air around her crackled with life.

And Secretflame? She definitely wasn't an animus. Still, there was something...off about her, like the students, like she, and all of them, knew about something she wasn't saying.

"I am so pleased you have decided to join us today at my academy, for I am Secretflame, headmaster of this academy!" The students gave a polite applause before Secretflame held up a single talon, signaling them to stop.

"Now, I suppose I could give a long winded speech about how things are different around here and how I'm so lucky to have you here, but I suppose I'll just cut to the chase."

The students, in turn, gave a light hearted chuckle, and Eagle decided right away that he liked this headmaster. "Now, each of you are here for a reason," Secretflame continued.

"Tell me, have you ever felt...out of place? Out of the ordinary? Known that something about you was different from other dragons?"

Eagle froze. Where exactly was she going this? Instantly his mind whirled back to the small flame in his talons not too long ago, and looking around he saw students instantly paling, some sneaking in the shadows as if she were about to call them out.

"Oh, please don't be frightened!" Secretflame called out, a bit of amusement in her voice. "Here we embrace that difference rather than try to hide it. We will not try to keep you down, or place fear in your hearts, or clip your wings. Here we will give you room to soar."

As she said this, Eagle noticed something change about the headmaster. Her wings, which had before been deep black, were now growing kind of a growing red, like metal placed in the heart of a raging fire.

Wary, Eagle began to step back, but he could take no more than a few steps before the wings suddenly burst into flames. Bright red and flickering with life, the crowd looked on in awe as Secretflame's wings, once made of scales and skin, began to crackle.

To Eagle's amazement, she wasn't done yet. Six spikes made from flames, three from each wing, shot out of the tips and all swerved, flying into the fountain.

All the students stopped for a moment, staring at the headmaster before erupting in applause, and Eagle couldn't help but join in. Although he was all skeptical, he knew, he just knew, that this school would be a good place for him.

Secretflame's School for Gifted Dragonet's had officially begun.


	3. II: Mirrors

**Hey guys! I started writing, and I decided I much prefer writing in first person as opposed to writing in third person. So, from here on out, these chapters will be written in first person. Sorry about the inconsistency, but I just feel that's the best choice.  
**

 **Also, this chapter mentions a bit of IceWing culture, so it makes a bit more sense if you've read 'Winter Turning'.**

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**Chapter II | Prism**

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 **There is power held in the surface of a mirror.**

While it may look like just a reflective piece of glass, I learned long ago that that was far from true. Ever since I was a young IceWing, I've for whatever reason understood the things and values that could be held in a mirror.

Mirrors represented uncertainty. Power. Beauty. Vain. Reflection. Honesty. For some reason, in every scroll whenever a beam is shot it bounces off a mirror. The Evil Queen has a magic mirror of her own that tells her who is the fairest of the all.

And when dragons look into a mirror, despite what's said, they can see more than just their appearance. A single reflection can cause a dragon to become shallow and vain, or hatred and self-doubt whenever they see their appearance. To hold a mirror is like to hold the very essence of the dragon race.

This might seem a bit obsessive, but personally, it's not. Well, I don't think so. Whatever. Most dragons didn't understand what I mean. In fact, most dragons didn't understand a lot of things. They don't understand the concept of worlds beyond their own, and if they did, the last place they would look was beyond the reflective surface of a mirror.

But I did. I, Prism of the IceWings checked, and I got my answer.

Mirror jumping. That's what me and my brother Frostbite call it. Okay, just holding the phone, up until today Frostbite was the only dragon who knew, okay? Now that that's out of the way...

The thing about mirror jumping, is that I'm was able to jump between mirrors, if that makes any sense. Basically, say I'm looking at a mirror in my bedroom. I can look through it, and step out into any nearby mirror. Note that I said _nearby._ I can't go to like, the other side of Pyrrhia or anything.

And the thing about living half in a mirror is that you see lots of dragons faces, and are able to determine their emotions and feelings, even if they don't show it. When I stepped on the school grounds, I couldn't explain it, but I could tell. I don't know why, but I could tell that things were different here.

And when Secretflame stepped on stage? Pssh, I could tell even before her wings basically became flaming dart-throwers. But that hadn't squelched her excitement. For once in her life, I felt like I finally belonged somewhere.

As soon as Secretflame stepped off the stage, I knew the assembly, or whatever it was was over. Dragons began to disperse here and there, some of them going over to the table and grabbing pamphlets.

Unsure of what to do, I searched around in the brown satchel wrapped around my waist, my long, serrated claws scouring through the contents. An artist drawing of Frostbite and I, a single handheld mirror with a silver handle, and finally, a light purple pamphlet with the words _Secretflame's School for Gifted Dragonets_ sprawled across the top.

Suddenly, as I held the paper, my claws began quivering with excitement as the reality of what was going on sunk in. This was real. This was actually happening. No more having to hide what I felt. No more feeling alone in the world. No more getting by with a sixth circle ranking and pretending it didn't hurt every day.

As I held the pamphlet in my claws, I realized what it meant. It meant everything, everything I hated about my life, was over. Eagerly, I began to open the pamphlet. If we had roommates (and I'm assuming we did) then maybe they would have abilities like mine! Maybe. I'm not entirely sure how this works.

I began to read the introduction at the beginning of the pamphlet, but quickly got bored. Reading had always been Frostbite's thing, not mine. I preferred to jump straight to the point as opposed to spending time wallowing in minor details.

Dragging a claw down the page, I continued to skim the paper until I finally came across what I was looking for: dorms. Talons shaking eagerly, I didn't have to look long before I saw the words _Prism: IceWing_ listed under Dorm 1. _Let's see,_ I thought to myself as I looked over who I would be sharing a room with.

 _A NightWing named Bonespeaker, a SandWing named Sunset, and a RainWing named Mist._ Huh. Simple enough list. However, I learned after years and years of experience that looks did little to portray what a dragon was really like on the inside.

 _But they could be different,_ a tiny voice at the back of my mind whispered. _They could pinpoint your weaknesses. Make you feel small like before._ Suddenly, my eagerness dropped as this new thought came to mind. _Or they couldn't be,_ I argued back. _You don't know that!_

Okay, before we really get into this, there's something I have to admit. I...um...have voices. In my head, that is. I constantly hear them. Am I crazy? Maybe. But now's not the time for that, right? Right?

Whatever. I had to get to my room anyways. Digging through my bag, I groped through the contents until I finally found what I was looking for: a single silver handheld mirror. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and held the mirror straight in front of me. If I concentrated hard enough, I found it was possible to take the mirror with me.

Closing my eyes, I set it down on the cobblestone ground and took a deep breath; mirror jumping was still an eerie process that took some mastering. Making sure I was concentrating completely, I let every limb go loose like melted glass, bit my lip, and jumped headfirst into the mirror.

Now, the thing about mirror jumping is that it kind of acts like a portal to a place I just call the mirror dimension. See, the mirror dimension isn't one place or another. It's in between. As I slowly peeled open my deep black eyes, I remembered not to jump when I saw that I was standing despite there being a lack of...well, a floor.

Shades of light blue and silver swirled around my eyes as the mirror dimension came into focus. Slowly, like a long hallway, dozens and dozens of what could only be called doorways began to open up along the dimension. Basically, it was like a rectangular shaped hole, and on the other side of that hole was a different place.

I saw kitchens, lounges, libraries, and all sorts of places begin to unfold before my eyes, This was the mirror dimension, and this was my safe place.

Still, something seemed a bit...different about my 'safe place'. It was weird, because I didn't remember it happening when I had been close enough to the academy to mirror jump here. It was like there was something...dark here. Also, it was cold. And I don't mean the kind of cold in the Ice Kingdom, I'm used to that kind of cold.

No, I mean the kind of cold that creeps under your scales and works your way through your body and makes you feel like you'll never be warm again.

Sighing, I tried not to dwell on it too much as I looked through the rooms, looking for anything that might indicate a mirror leading into Dorm 1. After much, much searching and peering through different mirrors, I found one that probably led to Dorm 1.

Well, okay, I was kind of certain of it. It looked like I could only see the inside of the dorm, but above it was a crest of two dragons with arched backs, their necks coiled an the number 1 between them. This was it. Taking a deep breath, I looked forward, then stepped through the mirror.

It wouldn't be until later that I would notice the dark, cloaked figure lurking behind me.


	4. III: Quiet

**Chapter III | Hydra**

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 **There is solitude in shadows.**

Okay, okay, I get it. That seems like something either an emo or a NightWing would say, but I believe it to be 100% true. Well, 100% true for me anyways.

Some dragons desire the spotlight or attention, and I'll be honest here, sometimes I do too. Sometimes I wish I was more noticeable or outgoing or social, but I'm just...not. So yes, as I said, there is solitude in shadows.

Shadows hide you. Give you protection. Make you unnoticed, unseen, and keeps other dragons away. Shadows don't judge you, or ignore you. They just provide you with what you need most, silence and privacy.

Rather than being in the limelight like my other seven siblings, I more enjoy sticking to the quiet of a dark corner. Basically, I'm about as unlike my family as I can get. My father Jetstream is a general in Queen Spray's army, and that has brought us fortune, mild fame, and basically a good life.

We have this huge house really close to Queen Spray's castle, with high ceilings and chandeliers and dining halls and everything. My brothers and sisters Pearl, Mako, Seal, Hurricane, Siren, Lobster, and Starfish somehow manage to be attention magnets, always having all these accomplishments and talents and what not.

And what am I? I'm just...me. Well, okay, if my family found out what I could do, I probably wouldn't be just 'me' anymore, I would be 'special'. And you know how I feel about being special?

It sucks. I mean, I swear I'll get hives just thinking about it. Wanting to be noticed and wanting a whole freaking a lot of attention are two entirely different things. I guess I have stage fright or whatever, and I guess what makes me 'special' just kind of fits me.

You see, I don't really do anything big or flashy or bold or anything. What I do? I get small. I don't know why, I just do. It helps me when I don't want to be seen, though. So, what I have to say here, is that my name is Hydra of the SeaWings, and I can shrink.

And right now, I'm wondering if shrinking will do me any good as I stand in the middle of the ornately decorated hall, in front of a large oak door with a single pamphlet held in my claws. _This is it,_ I thought. _Dorm 3._ I gulp, looking at the large oak sign written in golden letters, and I wonder if my roommates will mind dragons who prefer to keep to themselves.

According to the pamphlet, I should have three of them. A SandWing named Jackal, a SkyWing named Eagle, and a MudWing named Heron. For a moment, I gulped, remembering what we learned in school, about how SandWings have poisonous barbs on their tail, and all three tribes could breath fire, a skill SeaWings sadly lacked.

For a moment, I stood there, my talon hovering above the doorway, when suddenly I felt something ram into me. It knocked the wind out of me, and for a moment I just stood there, shocked, before I registered what had happened. A larger dragon, a MudWing by the looks of it, had rammed into me, and he was quickly followed by an IceWing.

"Watch it shrimp," he growled simply, disappearing into a door marked Dorm 1. For a moment, I almost said something, and my mouth opened for a second. The MudWing looked back at me, a threatening look in his eyes, and I quickly shut my mouth.

"Yeah, didn't think so," he said gruffly, which warranted a chuckle from the IceWing as they both disappeared behind Dorm 1. Focusing in on the dorms, I bit down hard on my lip, which was a habit I had been trying to break. At least those guys weren't my roommates.

Sighing, I finally forced myself to twist the doorknob, and pushed open the door, finally disappearing into my own dorm. Turns out, it didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. The room had a high ceiling and was ornately decorated, with a large, gaping arched window on one side of the room, causing the room to be filled with light.

The walls were painted a bright, creamy white color with pillars sticking out of them, and a mirror hanging on one side of the wall. There was a thick, red carpet in the center of the large room, and to my relief, I realized that there was a small aquarium with fish swimming inside it, but not the kind you eat, the kind you make your pets.

I was hoping to see a bed of coral or something for me to sleep on, but instead there were only two sets of bunk beds, which seemed to be very sturdy. Now, this all would have been the perfect arrangement for me, except for one thing.

There were other dragons there.

Call me antisocial, call me a creep, whatever, but I don't really enjoy the company of other dragons. The first one was a deep brown MudWing whom I figured was Heron, with thick, armored scales sitting on the bottom bunk on the right side of the room. His posture seemed kind of rigid, and I noticed his arms were rippling with thick muscles, though I figured that was normal for MudWings.

Apparently, Heron was nodding to something another dragon was saying, a SkyWing, who I decided could only Eagle, with deep scarlet scales and long, curvy horns that seemed to curve like that of a snake. He seemed kind of relaxed and was going on about something like 'weird rules' and 'classes' or something along those lines, though I couldn't tell if Heron was listening or not.

As I entered the room, I tried to shut the door as quietly as possible without making any noise, but apparently that wasn't enough. The door closed with a soft click, and apparently Eagle had fantastic hearing or something, because as soon as I shut the door, he stopped and looked up from his conversation with Heron, and as soon as he did a large grin lit up his face.

"Hey Heron, check it out! Our last roommate arrived!" He called out, and Heron looked up for a moment, and as soon as he did he gave a small smile. "Hey, he said simply, standing up and strolling over. Eagle, on the other talon, bounded over to me, which kind of made me want to hide under one of the bunk beds.

"It's... _Hydra,_ right?" Eagle said, rubbing the top of my head. I reflexively curled away and stared down at me claws. "Uh...yeah." I said in a tiny voice. Heron shrugged his massive shoulders, good naturedly nudging me in the shoulder. "Well, welcome to the team Hydra," he said in a warm voice.

I didn't say anything. So far I hadn't even been in the room a full five minutes and already I felt invaded beyond belief and had gotten more attention than I wanted. "Um...thanks." I said as softly as possible, slowly slinking away towards the bottom bunk of a bed.

Heron shrugged, beginning to turn away, but to my horror, Eagle continued to follow me. "You know...you don't talk much, do you Hydra?" I looked up at Eagle, then looked back down. "No..." I said simply in a quiet voice. Now before you get me wrong, I'm not afraid of other dragons, and I don't hate other dragons. It's just I prefer to be by myself sometimes.

Clenching my talons together, I felt my face heat up with embarrassment as I began to remove the contents from my bag. That went horribly. I mean, sure I guess I'm a _little_ quiet, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like a friend sometimes. However, thanks to my _fantastic_ social skills, I'm pretty sure I just came off as the creepy emo dude.

Sighing, I remembered the technique I used whenever I felt lonely like this. Sitting up, I closed my eyes, and began to breath. In and out. In and out. I imagined water going over a waterfall, but just as I sat up, my horn poked the underside of the mattress above me, which, apparently, poked someone.

"Watch it," a gruff voice muttered, and that practically scared me out of my scales. Yelping, I jumped a little on my mattress, but the voice didn't say anything again, only grunted a little and probably muttered a few curse words.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Eagle threw up his arms as if he were celebrating a victory. "It speaks!" He cried, and Heron shook his head, but he was smiling. Curious, I peered out from my safe haven under the bunk bed. "Who?" I asked timidly.

"Jackal," Heron explained, tilting his head towards the top bunk, and finally I looked up to see who I had poked. It was a young-ish looking SandWing, maybe about two years holder than me, with off-white scales and deep, black eyes that still somehow glimmered like cold, sharp, hard chips of ice.

"Old Silento speaks even less then you. When he came into the room he just didn't say anything, just sat up there, brooding." Eagle said, observing Jackal like he was an odd piece of art he was trying to understand. "I don't brood," Jackal grunted, turning his head, and when he did, everyone in the room gasped, including me.

For a moment, everyone just sat there, silent, as we saw the other side of Jackal's face. Where there should have another set of scales with a pure black eye, his face, from his horn to the tip of his mouth, was slashed with a deep, pink scar.

Even though it seemed to be quiet faded, suggesting it happened a while ago, it was still large and violent, having an ugly, marred appearance. To add to it, the pink mark drew over his eye, so that rather than being black, it was a blind, milky white.

"Woah." Eagle finally breathed. "I mean, I saw it earlier, but..." For a moment Jackal stared at them, wondering what they were looking at, but when he realized, his eyebrows dipped into a glare. "Well? What are looking at?" He challenged. "We're not all perfect, you know."

Obviously, their reaction had embarrassed him, and I instantly felt my face turn a bright cherry red at my over-the-top reaction. "Um...sorry..." I murmured, and both Eagle and Heron gave me a look as if they were surprised I, of all dragons, would speak up first.

Jackal glared. "Good for you." He muttered, turning back over in bed. We probably would have gone on in an awkward haze all day, as I slowly went back to what was now apparently my bed, when there was a loud crackling sound. It took me a moment to register that it was the loud speaker, and by then what sounded like an older dragon's voice began speaking over the intercom.

"Um...is this thing on...it is? Okay, um, _would all students please report to the White Room,"_ she said, before the intercom crackled off. Heron and Eagle both gave each other an odd look. "What's the White Room?" Heron asked, mildly confused.

Jackal rolled his eyes, leaping down from the top bunk. "Didn't you guys read the pamphlet? There was a map." I wanted to say that I read the pamphlet, but before I could Eagle butt in. "There was?" He asked, clueless, and Jackal shook his head. "Whatever," he said, leaving the room.

Soon enough, after I had unpacked my stuff, I finally left the room as well, heading to whatever the white room held.


	5. IV: The White Room

**Chapter IV | Mist**

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 **Okay, to be honest, when I heard of a white room, I was expecting something different.**

I mean, when someone says something as vague as a 'white room', it could usually mean a multitude of things. My first thought was maybe an assembly room so that they could actually tell us how this school worked. I mean, sending a NightWing up there and having her wings to into literal, actual fire and then just leaving us to our own devices isn't what I would call organized.

I mean, come on. I'm surprised someone hasn't lit something on fire yet. You know, other than Headmaster Secretflame's wings. But anyways, when I arrived at the white room, the last thing I was expecting was what I got.

So you see, the white room is really more of a long, wide hallways in between the boys' dorm and the girls' dorm. I passed it when I was making my way to my dorm after Secretflame's little 'speech', only thing is that when I tried the door it was locked.

Now though, as I pressed my talons against the cool white surface and pushed open the door, I realized the so-called 'white room' was nothing like I expected it to be. For starters, it was, well, all white. Yeah, I know that sounds kind of stupid. I mean, _Mist, it's a white room. It's probably going to be white._

But I mean, this room had absolutely no color. Like, no color at all. It was blindingly white. Or at least, it would have been if it weren't for all the dragonets milling around it. Gazing around, I saw all sorts of shades of blue, black, whatever. Every dragon in the school must be here, which, I realized with a shock, wasn't quite a lot. Only about two dozen, by what I counted.

Stepping inside the room, I allowed the door to shut behind me, and realized that the White Room was much bigger than I expected. In fact, what I was standing for was more of an elevated level that wrapped around a much larger room that could only be looked into through large, thick panels of glass.

Pressing my nose to the glass, I peered into the room, which I quickly realized was shaped like a hexagon. Inside, it sat in a much lower level, so that we were all looking down into it. Upon closer speculation, I realized that the room was made of smaller hexagonal panels, from the floors to the walls, all looking oddly pristine.

Altogether, this room seemed surprisingly modern as compared to the medieval feel that the castle itself have off. Scrunching my eyebrows together, I tried to piece together what this room could be used for. And since I was deep in my own thoughts, hearing only my own voice echoing inside my skull, it came as a surprise when I heard I higher pitched, cheery voice sounding from behind me.

"Ooh, your scales are turning all sorts of shades of blue? Does that mean you're thinking? 'Cause it looks like you are!" Sighing, I didn't even have to look away from the glass to realize who it was; that one ditzy IceWing girl from my dorm. Looking down at my legs, I realized that my scales were swirling with shades of blue, from royal to navy.

Giving another exasperated sigh, I adjusted my glasses on my nose and turned around. Standing behind me was a shorter, somewhat plump IceWing girl with deep black eyes like pools of tar and pure white scales that glistened like snowflakes. Prism, I think her name was? Yeah, despite Prism's seemingly normal nature, she proved to be quite annoying.

Then again, she was maybe she was the only thing that actually added some life to our dreary dorm. Oh sure, it seemed bright enough, but apparently the only other dragons were a gloomy SandWing and a creepy NightWing that gave me the willies.

Yeah, that was a fun forty minutes.

Still, despite Prism's lively nature, I didn't really want to be bothered right now. Besides, she seemed kind of dim, and, well...I couldn't quite place my talon on it, but maybe _mentally unstable_ was the word I was looking for? "Yes, Prism, when my scales turn blue it means I'm thinking," I said, exasperated.

"Oh, then you must think a lot," Prism began. _Yeah, unlike you,_ I thought to myself. "Because your scales always seem to be blue and purple! But just now, they were like, all blue, so you must have been-"

Thankfully, I was rescued from hearing Prism's little rant when a voice crackled over the intercom, and looking over, I saw there was kind of a white box with a single window pane where a dragon spoke into the same rock that Secretflame was speaking into earlier.

"Um...will all students please report to their dormmates? We will begin in a moment," the voice said, before crackling off, and I instantly groaned. Great. More of miss smiles, miss creepy, and miss gloomy. Dragging my feet, I searched around for the NightWing and SandWing as Prism bounded behind me, talking non-stop, her lips moving so right they reminded me of a motor.

"Oh wait, I think I found them! _Hey Sunset! Bonespeaker! Over here!"_ Prism cried, cupping her talons over her mouth and screaming their names across the room. My scales quickly flashed to a bright red shade of embarrassment as I felt the stares of several other dragons burning into the back of my head, and I tried to subtly duck my head.

Weaving through the small crowd, I slowly made my way over to the two girls, whose names were apparently Sunset and Bonespeaker. Oddly enough, I could recall the elements of the periodic table off the top of my head, but I was terrible when it came to names.

Not even looking back, I took a seat by a random dragon, but instantly felt a shiver go through my scales as soon as I sat next to them. _Bonespeaker._ I wasn't sure what her ability was, but whatever it was it wasn't... _right._ The young NightWing girl seemed off, never letting anyone touch her, and giving off a weird eeire vibe like she was never fully in this world.

Still, I wasn't sure the other option was very good either. Sunset, I'm pretty sure her name was. Yeah, she was at all as calming as her name suggested. Sunsets are often associated with calm and beautiful, but Sunset had more of an suspicious, back-stabbing vibe about her. The SandWing never relaxed her dangerously barbed tail, and her eyes glittered coldly.

Shifting myself uncomfortably, I tried to just put up with it until we could just go back to our dorms. "Okay...will... _Sunset of the SandWings_ please report to the center?" The voice on the loudspeaker crackled. For the first time, I actually hear her speak, and even then, it's just a few simple words.

"Can I bring Jackal?" She asks. Just four simple words. Nothing else. For a moment, whispers of confusion spread across the room, and my pale green emerald eyes sweep the white floors, wondering who this 'Jackal' guy is. "I'm sorry, but you must go on your own."

"I'm not doing it without my brother," Jackal continues, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. "And you can't make me either." One look at Sunset, and I can tell she means what she says. Her feet are firmly planted in the ground, and she shows no intention of moving.

Finally, after ruffling through some papers, the old guy in the box office speaks into the microphone again. "After closer speculation, it appears you _may_ participate with two members. Very well." Shrugging, Sunset stood up and walked over to a door that I didn't see before, and before long I notice another SandWing following her, this time a boy.

Just one glance would tell you that they're siblings. They both had the same off-white scales with small diamond patterns running down them, and they both had the same wary look in their eye. The only difference was that Sunset was smaller and had a small sprinkling of freckles across her nose, while Jackal was more muscular had a long scar that ran from his ear to the tip of his mouth, and straight across his eye, which was a blind, milky white.

Opening the door, the two SandWing siblings descended a long flight of stairs that led down to the center area, and standing up to stare down into the windows, I watched as they opened a door inside the arena and stepped into the room. Compared to the vast empty space, Sunset and Jackal looked small...vulnerable, even.

For a moment, everything was quiet as Sunset and Jackal stood, side by side, waiting for something to happen.

So it came as a shock when several guns came out of the walls, armed and ready to shoot.

* * *

 **Yeah yeah...I know you guys hate cilffhangers. I do too, but I'm trying to keep the chapters nice and short, so instead this is what you get. Sorry, but...ehhh...**


	6. V: A Strange Occurance

**Okay, everyone, a quick warning. This chapter is a bit longer than all the others, so brace yourselves, but it gets a bit _spoopy_ at the end.  
Question: Why do I post all my stuff late at night? Answer: Because I'm trash.**

* * *

 **Chapter V | Jackal**

* * *

 **It came as a shock when several guns came out of the walls.**

Instantly, my breath caught in my throat as I watched the room around us, once so quiet and serene, come alive with the clicking and whirring of white panels giving way to machine guns, black and shiny with the pristine look as if they had just been made. And they looked just as menacing.

My first thought: _what the hell?_ What kind of school was this? As far as I knew, guns were a newly developed weapon, not even released to the public yet. Even then, several queens were still considering whether or not to bring them into their kingdom, given the threat they posed.

Still, I've seen one or two dragons sneaking guns into the Scorpion Den, but even those were small pistols, and still I could see the damage it could do when it came in contact with a dragon's skull.

Still, I tried to maintain my composure. In a situation, the one thing you couldn't do was show any weakness, and I wasn't going to change that now. However, I managed to shoot a quick, nervous look at Sunset, and I could see the answer strewn plainly across her freckled face: _they were going to start shooting._

"What is this?" She called out, directed at the older SkyWing running the box office. "A training simulator," he replied into the loudspeaker. "To test your abilities in times of stress. The guns will begin shooting in T-10 seconds."

 _Ten seconds._ That's how much time we had before we were both blown to bloody hell, the only remains of us being our blown up corpses. Biting my lip, I tried to form a plan in my head, and hoped I didn't look as nervous as I felt.

 _Think, Jackal,_ I thought to myself. _How can you get yourself out of this?_ I looked up at the wall, where big numbers that showed how much times was left were projected onto the wall. _4\. 3. 2. 1._

Time's up. Without thinking, I raced over to Sunset and spread my arms, closing my eyes tight as the sound of gunshots rang through the air, rapid and filling the room with gunpowder. It filled my head, my ears, my body soon becoming the only sound I heard, but strangely enough, that sound didn't give way to the quiet, serene feel that I imagined death would be.

Beads of sweat forming on my off-white scales, I dared to open my eyes for just a moment, and my heart fell into my stomach with relief at what I saw. Almost like a half force-field, a sort of translucent shield had formed around Sunset and I, ripples going through it where it absorbed the shock from the bullets.

I almost smiled: I had done it. I wasn't sure how, but I had done it. To be honest, I rarely ever did it, it was so hard to figure out. But now, I had finally done it, right when I- _we_ needed it. Shooting a half-smile at Sunset, she gave a quick nod, then leaped into the air, just high enough to reach up, but still low enough that she was behind the shield.

With quick, graceful movements, she flung her arms, and from each talon a sort of silver blade shot out of each, three from each hand. In a few quick movements, she aimed them at each gun, where they were instantly destroyed upon impact, some falling to the floor, now useless.

Within moments, the arena was now a smoking area filled with the corpses of guns, and Sunset and I, standing there, shaking from shock. After a moment, the loudspeaker crackled to life. "Well done!" The SkyWing said, unlocking the door to release us from the arena.

For a moment I just stood there, teeming with rage. _Well doe?_ What, well dome for not dying? Gritting my teeth, I dug my long claws into the white panels and my tail began to writhe behind me, but I managed to control myself amd stalked towards the door thhs led out of the arena, my shoulders hunched.

Walking past the other dragons in the White Room, I tried to ignore the stares they gave us as we walked past, which was pretty easy since my blind eye was facing them. When I reached my clawmates. I made sure to sit far away from them, my blind side facing them so I couldn't see them as easily.

And yeah, okay, I get that my scar isn't the best sight. But not everyone is perfect, and not everyone has to make such a big deal by staring at it. And my clawmates? They won't _stop._ That one kid, Hydra? He watched it like it was a new species.

And now, I could catch the small SeaWing sneaking glances at it. Angrily, I gave a small puff and turned my head to the side, grumbling. Still, it was better than the Scorpion Den, and I would rather be here than that place.

Since Sunset and I blew out all the guns, everyone else just had to demonstrate, which for some reason renewed my sense of anger. With my back turned, I missed several other student's performances, but from Eagle's excited whispers to Heron, I could get a basic idea.

 _"Wow, did you see that?"_

 _"Who knew lightning could go that far?"_

 _"Wow, that cup went up like three feet!"_

The whole time Heron just looked at Eagle, nodding and sometimes raising his eyebrows at the fast-talking SkyWing, as if he couldn't keep up. I, on the other hand, just rolled my eyes. I couldn't really care less, I just wanted this whole thing to be over. I didn't even look over when it was his turn to demonstrate his power, because honestly, I already knew.

In the dorm, before hydra showed up he lit a plant on fire by accident, and Heron had to dump a bucket of water on the plant to keep it from igniting the whole dorm. Come to think of it, Heron was kind of an outlet for the crazy, because to be honest, without him our dorm would probably be a smoldering, hollowed out charred shell.

I did, however, look up when it was Heron's turn. He went up so calmly and silently, I was half convinced he had forgotten we were there. Still, the young MudWing went to the center of the arena, and reached inside the brown satchel he kept around his waist, and pulled out...a carrot.

I arched my eyebrows in surprise, and a few of the students were whispering. What could he possible do that involved a carrot? Still, I remained quiet as he slipped off two brown gloves that he wore around his talons, which I didn't even realize he was wearing. Had he always had those? Maybe the point of them was that they blended with his scales so that you didn't notice them.

Carefully, he rubbed his talons together, as if he were preparing for something, then closed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing together in concentration, and I couldn't help wondering what he was playing at. Then, slowly and carefully, Heron reached out and delicately placed his black talons down on the orange surface of the carrot, then enforced his grip.

From where he touched the carrot, small specks of a shiny, metallic gold began to bloom from the surface like they were leaking from his claws, covering the carrot, until finally, it was covered in a layer of gold. Picking up the carrot, Heron gripped it in an ungloved talon, then beat it once or twice on the floor, where a hollow, metallic sound echoed from it.

The carrot had turned to solid gold. Heron's touch could turn things to gold. Placing the carrot back down, Heron rested his claws on the floor for a moment, and small puddles of gold bloomed on the white tiles. Noticing his mistake, Heron quickly slipped the gloves back on and hurried out of the arena, without being asked or anything, as if he was afraid of these dragons knowing what he could do. I guess old habits die hard.

I should have been amazed at what he could do, astonished even, but to be honest, a shiver only went up my spine. _Imagine what could happen if he touched another dragon,_ whispered a nagging voice at the back of my head.

Still, I forced myself to not creep a bit farther away from Heron as he passed, and instead watched curiously as Hydra stepped up. I'm going to be honest: the small SeaWing both infuriated and intrigued me. Apparently he couldn't stop staring at my scar, but also had something...weird, about him.

"Okay... _Hydra,_ you may start," the SkyWing announcer reported, reading off from the list of names. Hydra shifted, uncomfortable at the other dragon's gazes on him. "Um...okay..." he whimpered in a small voice, then closed his eyes as if he were trying to block everyone out.

Okay, I'm going to say it. Don't judge me but...Hydra's a bit weird. And I don't mean good weird. I mean kind of raise your eyebrows and question what he's doing weird. Still, Hydra forced his eyebrows together, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and I swear this made him look much, much smaller than he actually was.

Kind of like the vulnerable kind of small, the kind that made him look kind of pathetic. In fact...he didn't stop looking like that. Now he actually seemed small. Like really small. Only thing is, this didn't stop. He kept on getting smaller and smaller, and that's when I realized it-he was shrinking.

He kept going like this until he was about the size of those little bird figurines that Sunset liked to keep (shhh...don't tell her I said that; she doesn't like people to know). To be honest, what Hydra could do kind of made sense to me. Being able to shrink yourself, and wanting to just be unnoticed actually goes hand in hand if you think about it.

The next one was an IceWing named Shiver. I didn't know him well, but I think that he was one of those dragons in Dorm 1, just across the hall from us. I may have been imagining it, but I think that Hydra might have grasped in talons into fists slightly and gritted his teeth when he saw him.

Stepping into the arena, I decided instantly I didn't like this Shiver. It's not like I've ever met him or anything, and okay, maybe I'm being quick to judge, but usually I can get a good idea of what people are like, and this dragon just felt...wrong.

His face was too smug. His pure black eyes gleamed with a sense of arrogance. He seemed to always be looking down at other dragons, and when he passed me, he looked at me like I was a spot of grime on an otherwise pristine surface. Gritting my teeth, I allowed a low, wordless growl to escape my throat, just to intimidate him.

As I did, Shiver seemed to walk a little faster, and I felt a twinge of satisfaction. In fact, even Hydra seemed to smile at that, which was a bit surprising. "Yo," Eagle whispered, and it took me a moment to register that he was talking to me. And even then, I inwardly cringed at the fact that he actually said _yo._

"What's that guy's problem? He looked like he was scared of you." He whispered, and I just shrugged my shoulders, but I couldn't help a small smirk at the corner of my mouth."Oh, so you do have emotions. Please expand," Eagle said, mock raising an eyebrow.

The moment passed. I snorted in his face, turning away but still keeping my good eye trained on the arena to see what would happen. At first, I couldn't even see him, his glistening white scales blended so perfectly with the white tiles of the arena.

Still, my eyes adjusted and I managed to make out Shiver standing in the center of the White Room, his arms and legs spread. His feet were planted firmly on the ground, and despite the hard tiles, he looked as if he was trying to dig his serrated claws into the floor.

"Shiver, you may begin," the loudspeaker said, and Shiver gave a quick nod, but just as he was about to, his face paled (which was quite hard when you think about it, considering his face was so white). My eyebrows furrowed together curiously.

"Shiver? Are you alright?" The SkyWing on the loudspeaker asked, and Shiver shook his head, clearing his face. "Y-Yeah. I'm okay." He said, but for some reason I got this feeling that he was lying. Shaking his head, Shiver got into a state of deep concentration again, but just as he looked ready to do whatever it was he was going to do, a thin whistling sound hit my ears.

It was a weird and low, mysterious, creepy note that made it feel like thousands of cold needles were pricking themselves under my scales. I noticed Hydra kind of hiding himself under his wings a little bit, and even Eagle and Heron looked uneasy.

Shiver looked like the most affected of all. His face crossed into a look like he was terrified, and small beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. The SkyWing announcer, however, seemed like he couldn't be more annoyed. "Dragonets these days..." he muttered under his breath.

"Everyone calm down! Don't you know the wind when you hear it?" He snapped angrily, then settled back into his seat. I rustled my wings a little bit, trying to fight off the cold feeling that was creeping up my spine. Come to think of it actually, it was cold. Like, really cold.

And I don't mean the winter kind of cold that only sits on top of your scales, I mean the eerie, whispering cold that works and coils it's way into your bones and blood, and making you feel like you'll never get warm again, and like you're trapped. Shivering, I rubbed my arms a little bit and wrapped my tail around myself, delicately keeping the poisoned end tipped away from me.

Even calm, collected Heron looked a bit freaked out, and Eagle's unusual purple eyes kept darting from side to side. Shiver looked like he was close to panic, like he could sense something we couldn't. His eyes had a crazed, attacked look in them like he could sense something.

A low wail came from the other side of the moon, and I thought that it was Shiver, but looking over I realized that it was this strange NightWing girl in Sunset's dorm with this black cloak who looked as if she was having a seizure or something. This IceWing was trying to calm her down, but the NightWing wouldn't let her touch her, and the whole time Sunset was giving them an odd look.

"Everyone, please remain calm," the SkyWing tried saying, but at that point no one was listening. Jackal was at that point already feeling very uncomfortable, and he wondered if he could get Sunset and sneak out of there. He bet if no one was looking he could pick the lock...

Suddenly, a feeling, much colder than any of the ones before, raced through my body, like a cup quickly filling with water, then pouring out. It was warm and cold, terrifying and weird all at the same time, and was like having a thousand adrenaline shots to my heart and being exhausted at the same time.

I felt dizzy and quickly broke out in cold sweats. Gasping, I leaned back. It felt like something had...gone through me. My eyes stretched wide, I leaned against the wall, panting. It took me a moment to register that someone was speaking to me.

"Jackal? _Jackal?_ " A voice said from far away, only it wasn't far away at all, I realized, and it was Heron's voice right next to me. "Jackal, are you okay?" I didn't respond, only stared down at my claws, and I realized all of my clawmates were staring at me. Hydra was looking at me with an expression of curious terror strewn across his face, and even Eagle looked more serious that usual.

Swallowing a lump in my throat, I only nodded. "Fine? Yeah, fine. I'm fine." I lied, the words coming past my lips quickly and sounding a bit jittery. Heron regarded me with an odd look, as if he didn't quite believe me, but still looked away.

Suddenly, there was a quick whooshing sound, and after a moment I realized that a torch had gone out. Surprisingly enough, this strange sequence continued, each of the torching going out, until finally the White Room was encased in complete darkness. By now, students were panicking, and I tried not to be among them.

However, as the low, muted whispers went through the room, there was a loud, high pitched, shrieking wail coming from the arena, and instantly everyone broke into hysterics.

There was a loud, clicking noise as the SkyWing flew out of the box, then began reigniting each of the torches, and trying to get everyone to calm down. However, no amount of calming could draw everyone's attention away from the arena.

Shiver was gone. And in the center of the arena, there was only a smoking scorch mark.

* * *

 **Yeah, I'm sorry this chapter was so long, I would have preferred it to be shorter, but for some reason this is just how it turned out...sorry everyone!**


	7. VI: The Note

**Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting; I've been kind of busy with something, but now I'm back and ready to write!  
Also, fair warning, I was going through a bit of writer's block as I wrote this, so the chapter might seem a bit... _sketchy._**

* * *

 **Chapter VI | Heron**

* * *

 **Shiver was gone. And in the center of the arena, there was only a smoking scorch mark.**

Instantly, things turned to complete and utter pandemonium. Everyone was already a bit nervous and creeped out from the little 'display', I was certain that seeing that Shiver was gone would push people over the edge. And push them it did. All of a sudden, the White Room erupted into pure chaos, dragons shrieking and nearly trampling each other in their attempt to get out.

Just standing up, I was pushed and bounced around by dragons from all tribes, and it was all I could do not to join them. _Heron, get it together,_ I thought, trying to calm myself. Fear had never been something that I wanted to feel, but oftentimes I had to tell myself not to be afraid, because everything you want is on the other side of fear.

Every day in the Mud Kingdom, I had to tell this to my siblings, and myself, to overcome my fears. I was their bigwing. I couldn't let them down. To be honest, I almost didn't want to come to this school, because it would mean leaving them for who knows how long. In the end, they actually convinced me to go, practically shoving me out the door.

"You'll have a better life there than you do here," Silt had said as I had prepared to fly off. I couldn't help wondering if he would still think that if he could see the school right now. Complete and utter chaos. A missing dragon. Teachers trying to herd all the students back to their dorms so they could 'assess the situation'. It was like everything had turned upside-down.

Looking around, I realized I had lost Eagle in the frenzy of dragons, and Jackal still seemed to be half-stunned by...whatever happened to him. Most of the time, the SandWing seemed like kind of a leave-me-alone, I-would-rather-be-by-myself dragon. But now, he seemed kind of jittery and on edge, and his eyes had kind of an attacked look in them. Hydra, on the other hand, wasn't even pretending not to be afraid.

He was huddling by himself in a corner, his wings wrapped around himself, and I couldn't help feeling just the tiniest bit sorry for him. I mean, to be honest, I could kind of relate to him. Half the time, the SeaWing was too scared to speak, let alone go against raging crowds. For a moment, I reached out to comfort him, but just as I was about to brush his wing, I stopped.

 _My gloves._

They weren't there. What was usually covered with a thick, leathery brown were only my own scales and talons, twinged with a glittering dust of gold. Instantly, a feeling of panic settled over me. I swear, I _swear_ I put them on as soon as I was done in the arena. Looking behind me, I realized where I stepped had left swirling spirals of gold, making the White Room not-so-white.

Biting down on my lip, I felt a cold, creeping feeling of panic slowly washing over me. I hadn't been without my gloves since I was a young dragonet, and even then I barely remembered what it was like to have them off. Taking them off in the arena was the first time I had taken them off in what, six, seven months? And now, without them I felt weirdly exposed, like someone had ripped off all my scales.

The thing that really confused me, however was how they had come off in the first place. I distinctly remembered slipping the cool, leathery surface onto my talons and closing all the straps, so how they could have come off truly puzzled me. Rubbing my talons together, I tried not to touch any of the other students as they practically trampled each other in their struggle to get out of the White Room.

I probably would have joined them, but if I left the White Room without my gloves, there was a very low chance I would get them back, and I just _couldn't_ allow that. Swallowing the panic rising like bile in my throat, I pressed myself against the wall, avoiding the stampede of students, so that when they were all past, I could look around for my gloves.

Still, I couldn't stop the doubt silently pricking at me. _Someone could have easily taken them,_ whispered a tiny, persistent voice at the back of my head, but I quickly pushed that thought out of my mind. They _had_ to be here. They _had_ to. If I lost these, I couldn't get another pair, since my sister, Anaconda had made them. And she couldn't exactly make me another pair...

Keeping pressed to the wall, I bit down on my lip until the last of the students had passed, thundering out of the room with their heart pounding. All of a sudden, the room seemed ghostly silent, every small sound amplified tremendously that came with the onslaught of quiet. Suddenly, I felt nervous tension prick my scales, and I rubbed my arms, suddenly cold and not worried about turning myself to gold. One thing I had discovered about myself: for some reason, what I 'did' didn't work on myself.

Releasing a breath that I hadn't even known I had been holding, I was just starting to walk, when suddenly I heard a loud _bang_ behind me. Practically jumping out of my scales, I whipped around. Normally I wouldn't be so jumpy, but being alone in the large, quiet room made everything seem creepier.

Except maybe I wasn't quite alone. As I turned around, I saw that the door leading out of the white room had automatically slammed shut, and I now saw a flash of dark blue scales desperately pulling on the handle. _"Come on...come on...no no no..."_ he muttered, and even though I didn't get a good look at his face, I instantly knew who it was.

 _"Hydra?"_ I cried, my confusion involuntarily seeping into my voice. At my words, Hydra whipped around, his muscles tensed. However, they instantly relaxed when he saw me, and he tilted his head, just as confused as I was. "Heron? What are you still doing in here?" He inquired, his head tilted to one side.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" I declared, arching an eyebrow. Of all the dragons I knew at this school, Hydra seemed like one of the first dragons to be out that door. "I thought you left." Hydra, in turn, stared down at his claws and picked at the floor tiles, small shades of red seeping into his cheeks. "Well...I was waiting for everyone else to pass," he began to explain. "I just...I just didn't like the idea of being around all those dragons."

If Hydra hadn't been standing right there, I would have shook my head. Honestly, this dragon seemed to be scared of everything. What next? Would he be scared of _air_? Then again, since he was a SeaWing and could go underwater, that didn't seem too far fetched...

Then, something weird happened. Something that I couldn't quiet explain at the time, but as I was thinking about if Hydra was afraid of the air, I heard a voice, like the air _spoke_ back to me. _"Agoraphobia, the fear of crowds"_ the voice whispered to itself, and for the second time that day, I practically jumped out of my scales, and the color drained from my face. Wide eyed, I glanced over at Hydra. "Did you-" I began, but instantly I could tell that the young SeaWing hadn't said anything.

Hydra's face had gone a pale color, and he stood stiff-legged, as if he had been scared out of his scales. And honestly, it wasn't too hard to see why. With...whatever had been going on happening just a few moments ago, it was easy to be a little jumpy.

 _"Nice job, Mist,"_ whispered a voice again, only now, this was a different voice, I could tell. Now I was _extra_ confused. Hydra, whose heart was now beating so rapidly even I could hear it, dove behind me as if he were using me as a shield. _Gee, thanks._

My eyebrows furrowing together, I took a tentative step forward. "Who's there?" I called into the seemingly empty room, my voice echoing around me so that it sounded like there were five MudWings rather than just one. For a moment, I didn't get an answer, the only reply being the echoing silence. Then, as my confusion and curiosity continued to grow, there was a rippling in the air near the box where the old SkyWing announcer had been sitting, and then the air seemed to... _change color._

What once seemed like only the white space around the room now molded and shifted until I saw a set of blue, rippling with various shades of purple hovering above the ground, which slowly took the form of another dragon. It was then that I noticed the glasses, which even though they hadn't disappeared, had still blended in, as I was too distracted by Hydra to notice.

 _A RainWing,_ I thought, as the dragon lowered herself to the floor, and I noticed that her scales were also teeming with a darker, angrier shade of purple. _What does that mean? Frustration?_ I thought to myself. "What the" I began, but I didn't even get to finish my sentence, because from behind me Hydra yelped, suddenly racing in front of me, and I myself turned around, where another dragon was appearing.

From a dark, shaded area of the White Room, a pure black dragon, violet eyes glistening with intelligence, materialized out of the shadows, a dark hood draped over her body. Silently, I cursed myself for forgetting that NightWings could disappear into shadows.

For a moment, we all just stood there, four pairs of eyes gazing back at each other in the silent room. Then, to break the silence, I looked between the two girls that had just appeared before us, and declared , "forgive my rudeness, but _who the hell are you?_ "

For a moment, the NightWing girl stepped back, surprised, but the RainWing regained control of her scales and spoke in a voice that was obviously meant to be calm, but came out kind of jittery. "Are-are you guys with the school?" She asked, and for some reason I felt rage sweep over my body. I didn't have time for this!

"Do I look middle-aged to you?" I grumbled, and the RainWing's scales fluttered with a color I couldn't quite interpret. "And anyways, you didn't answer my question. _Who are you?"_

Biting down on her lip, the RainWing took a deep breath, and finally said, "I'm Mist, and that's Bonespeaker," she said, gesturing to the NightWing in the corner. As Mist said her name, the NightWing didn't say anything, or even wave, just gave a small, shy smile and tugged on her cloak. "And you are..." Mist continued, adjusting her glasses.

"Heron," I said simply. "And that's Hydra." Hydra didn't bother to introduce himself; he just seemed to be relieved that there weren't any ghosts there. Suddenly, a thought struck my mind. These two girls had just materialized out of thin air, and had only appeared after everyone had left. "Wait, was that _you guys_ doing all the attacks?"

Mist's scales rippled with a shade of dark yellow, and the NightWing, Bonespeaker, I think her name was, finally looked up. "Of course not!" She cried, as if she had never heard anything more ludicrous in her life. "Do we honestly _look_ like we could do something like that?" They didn't, to be frank, and instantly I felt a shade of red creeping into my scales.

"No, we're here because of _that,_ " Mist continued, pointing a single talon at the window that overlooked the arena, and all four of us curiously peered inside, where Shiver's scorch mark still marred the floor, standing out vividly against the white tiles. Even as we looked, Mist's scales rippled with shades of blue thought. "I'm a woman of science, and something about that just didn't seem _right._ If a dragon disappeared like that, he wouldn't leave a scorch mark, and if he really was struck down by whatever made that mark, then there should at least be remains of him, or something. A decapitated head, a bleeding tail, and eyeball,"

As Mist went on, Hydra turned a sickly shade of green, as if he were about to throw up. "Point is," Mist continued. "Something doesn't add up." As the RainWing finished, a wave of clarity and realization settled over me. Fear had made me too stupid in the heat of the moment to realize it, but Shiver's mysterious disappearance seemed really weird.

"And why are you here?" Hydra said to Bonespeaker, speaking to the girls for the first time since they had been revealed. Surprised by the sudden attention, Bonespeaker stepped back, but faced Hydra with a glint in her violet eyes. "Because, when that weird... _thing_ was going on, I felt something. Something that just wasn't _right._ "

 _How could you possibly know that?_ I thought to myself, and in the corner of my eye I caught Mist rolling her eyes. I couldn't really be surprised; she seemed like the kind of dragon to believe in science, not superstitions. "We were going to investigate down there, and get a closer look," Mist continued. "But they locked all the doors. No one can get in or out." I realized she hadn't mentioned my gloves, which was a good thing, but all the same that reminded me that I needed to be on the lookout.

"Come on," Mist said, leading the other three of us towards the door to the arena. Before us, the door stood, but when Bonespeaker tried pulling on it, it wouldn't budge. "We've tried everything," she insisted. "But the door is locked, the glass is bullet-proof or something, and there are no alternative entrances." As she spoke, I was beginning to think that she was right, and we wouldn't get in there, when suddenly an idea formed in my head, and I looked at Hydra.

Instantly, the color drained from Hydra's face; he may be scared, but he wasn't an idiot. With my eyes, I gave him a sort of _please?_ begging look, and Hydra's eyes drated from me, to Mist, to Bonespeaker, to the door. Finally he released a breath and said, "fine."

As Hydra padded over to the door, Mist arched an eyebrow, and Bonespeaker regarded Hydra with an odd look. "What are you-" Mist began, but she quickly silenced herself as Hydra began to shrink in size. At first he was the size of me, then the size of a young dragonet, then a newly hatched dragonet, until he was practically the size of a centipede.

"Woah," was the only word that escaped Bonespeaker's lips as Hydra's small form inched underneath the door. For a few moments, the only sound that followed was sheer silence, and this went on so long I was beginning to think Hydra had somehow forgotten, until I heard the sound of a lock clicking on the other side, and the door swing open, Hydra holding the handle. "Well?" He said. "Coming?"

"Interesting," Mist was murmuring to herself as we crossed into the arena. "Perhaps the atoms that make up your body mass pack themselves tightly together, thus relinquishing a large amount of volume..." as Mist continued talking to herself, I found myself crossing over to the scorch mark that marred the floor. Now that I was there, everything seemed so much...creepier.

I mean, the arena was never welcoming, but Shiver's scorch mark was kind of like a hollow reminder of what had once been there. All of us were silent as we crossed over the room, our eyes tracing the black mark. Only thing was, Bonespeaker looked kind of...sick. As we got closer to the scorch mark, she began trembling, and she clasped her head.

Mist, however, made no such indication that she was scared. Looking up, she stopped talking to herself about Hydra's shrinking, and instead trotted right onto the scorch mark. Hydra gasped. "Mist!" Bonespeaker scolded, and Mist gave her an annoyed look. _"What?_ It's not anything is here _now._ " She insisted, walking over to the center of the mark.

As she observed the area, she eyebrows furrowed together. "That's weird...there's a clump of ash right here," she said, brushing aside a pile of black dust, and as she did, a small blot of creamish-white poked out of the pile. "What is that?" I asked, suddenly intrigued. Shrugging her shoulders, Mist was about to pick it up, when Bonespeaker cried, "Wait!"

Instantly, the three of us looked over at Bonespeaker, confusion displayed across our faces. Instantly, the young NightWing turned a brilliant shade of pink. "It's just...something about that seems...like it shouldn't be here," she said, and Mist gave a small smirk. "Bone, honey. It's a _piece of paper._ How bad can it be?" She said, leaning down and picking up the scrap.

From Bonespeaker's reaction, I half expected Mist to burst into flames or turn into a slug or something, but nothing happened. The only thing was that as she touched it, Mist's pupil's dilated a little, and she gave a small shiver, but as she looked at the paper her face morphed into confusion. "That's weird," she said to herself, and suddenly my curiosity became too much to bear. "What? Is it blank?" I asked, and Mist shook her head. "No, it's certainly not blank," she insisted. "Well then what's wrong?" Bonespeaker asked, holding out a talon, and as she did I noticed something about them, which shook me to the core.

 _My gloves._ She had them? Bonespeaker? Instantly, my curiosity turned to fury. "Hey!" I roared, facing Bonespeaker. "Those are _my_ gloves!" Instantly, Bonespeaker went pale, paler than she already was. "I-well I-I just-" she stuttered, obviously searching for the words to explain herself, but if she had an explanation, I didn't want to hear it. "Give me those!" I cried, leaping at her. Usually I wasn't so brash and impulsive, but seeing Bonespeaker wearing my gloves had filled me with a rage I couldn't explain.

As I leaped at her, Bonespeaker moved out of the way. "Don't touch me!" She cried, which only made me angrier. "Just give me the gloves and I won't have to!" I retorted. Bonespeaker, however, only shook her head. "No, you don't understand-" I didn't hear her. I was too filled with anger and rage to listen. As I did, I leaped again, and this time, my claw brushed her, just the slightest movement, barely a brush.

And that was when everything stopped.

Instantly it was like everything was being sucked out of my body, everything, my essence, nutrients, everything. Suddenly I was cold, very, very cold, like winter itself had creeped under my scales and was killing me from the inside out. For a second, everything went dark, and I felt sick to my stomach. As soon as I touched Bonespeaker, I pulled away, staggering.

Even away from her, I felt sick, and the instant I pulled away, I turned around and began wretching all over the floor. When I finally turned around, wiping vomit from my mouth, I found Hydra and Mist's gazes switching between me and Bonespeaker. "What-what did you _do_ to me?" I stuttered, but Bonespeaker didn't say anything, only took off the gloves and flung them at me, hot tears stinging her eyes.

"It doesn't matter. Here-you can have your gloves. They don't work very well, anyways," she said in between shuddering breaths, and I could tell she was trying not to cry. As soon as I caught them, I slipped the brown leather surface onto my talons, and sighed as the buzzing feeling in my talons instantly relinquished. Still, that didn't stop a;; the questions circling my head as to what the hell just happened.

"Look-we can talk about this later. For now, I think you guys should know what's on this thing," Mist insisted, waving the piece of paper in the air. I for one, wanted to know exactly what happened, but before I could say that, Mist started speaking. "The thing, is, it doesn't really _anything._ I mean, listen to this:"

 _"De ultima luna, Alpinis est calori,_

 _De terra abiit ut metatur, qui unsowed,_

 _Et facta sunt ut pretium in manibus dæmoniorum,_

 _Venite ad fuel flammae non sunt agitata Tempe._

 _Puer fiat ex caelum corrigere factis,_

 _Semen enim est, quod maiorum nostrorum tempore ante._

 _Postremo clamor in his verbis per os,_

 _Nox caelo proferre debemus."_

As Mist finished reading, all of us were silent, but none of us had any questions answered. None of that was even English; it didn't make any sense. "But-but that doesn't make any sense!" Hydra cried. Mist gave us all a grim look. "I don't know what it means, but I think Shiver's disappearance has more to it than what's on the surface."

And, for once, I think Mist was right.


	8. VII: Connections

**Chapter VII | Mist**

* * *

 **I had never been more confused in my life.**

At first, i had just wanted to know where that one IceWing (Shiver, was it?) had gone, but now, as I, Bonespeaker, Hydra and Heron quietly padded through the now empty hallways, I couldn't help feeling anxious as the small slip of papyrus rustled in my talons.

None of it made any sense. First, that one guy Shiver disappears and leaves a bunch of ashes in the middle of the room. That would only make sense if he were disintegrated, and since no one felt any backlash from the heat, that probably wasn't an answer.

So why? Why did he leave a pile of ashes when he disappeared, and why oh why was there a note in the pile of ashes with nothing but completed gibberish on it? As I walked, gritting my teeth together as I thought, I felt this eerie chill run up my spine, the way I always did when Bonespeaker was coming closer.

What exactly _did_ happen with Bonespeaker? When I had first met her, she just seemed like one of those weird eerie goth girls, but I couldn't tell what got her into this school, but now I had a basic idea, and that left me more confused than ever. What kind of dragon had some kind of curse where she wasn't able to touch anyone?

Not to mention she always looked like she was talking to someone, even when no one was there. Between Shiver's disappearance, the note, and Bonespeaker's bizarre behavior, my brain was starting to hurt.

"I think we have to cut off here," a distant voice said, tugging me out of my thoughts. Jolting my head up, I saw that Heron was standing in front of the rest of us, right at an intersection where one part of the hallway rose up to make stairs with a sign saying 'Boys', and the other half still leveled out and swerving behind the stairs, labeled 'Girls'.

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah," I said absentmindedly, barely paying attention to Heron. Heron gave me an odd look, but didn't say anything about it. "We could meet up tomorrow at lunch or something to talk about... _that,_ " the MudWing said, pointing a single talon at the note in my claws. I barely even heard him; my eyebrows were furrowed in deep thought.

"What? Um, yeah, sure," I said absentmindedly, waving a single talon. Heron cocked an eyebrow, looking like he wanted to say something, but finally decided against it, and went with Hydra up the stairs towards the boys' dorm. As Bonespeaker and I walked back to our dorm, we walked in complete silence, which I could tell she hadn't expected at all.

I completely understood why, given her behavior in the arena, but right now I just really didn't feel like talking. "Have you ever seen any language like this?" I said finally as we walked past the bathrooms. Tugging on her cloak, Bonespeaker reached out to take the piece of paper, and I hesitated. Right now, this single piece of paper seemed like the only lead I had, and if something... _weird_ happened every time she touched something, I wasn't sure I was willing to give it to her.

Granted, from what I had seen, she only affected things that were living, but I was still reluctant when handing over the paper. From my reaction, she could easily tell why, however, and she seemed to droop a little bit more, which caused short starbursts of orange rocketed through my scales.

Squinting her violet eyes, Bonespeaker stopped and studied the piece of paper, cocking her head. "I...I'm not sure..." she murmured, obviously confused. Now, before we go on, I want to get something straight: I'm not a very _emotional_ dragon. I'm not a robot or anything, but emotions are just the frontal lobe's way of interpreting the world. They don't do anything but make you feel really weird for no reason at all, so it takes a lot to get me to feel strongly about anything. In fact, that's probably why I kept so calm when Shiver disappeared.

But right now, I wasn't in the mood for _any_ of this. I was ready to get straight to the point, and... _whatever_ was going on already had me on edge, and I didn't have time to decipher what other dragons were saying. So as Bonespeaker said, "I'm not sure," small, tiny specks of green-yellow annoyance spiked through my scales. "What do you mean 'you don't know'? Either you've seen it or you haven't," I said, trying my best smile-through-gritted-teeth.

Bonespeaker looked up at me, her violet eyes sharp. "I mean...I don't know. I think I've seen it before..." I barely heard a word she said; I was already stalking down the hallway, my scales swirling with blue and yellow-green, and after a few moments I heard Bonespeaker's soft footsteps behind me, and we walked in silence the rest of the way to our dorm.

When we finally got to to the mahogany door with the golden number one glistening on the front, we tried to walk in as if nothing had changed. Sunset was fitfully on the bottom bunk of one of the bunk beds, the left wall filled with half a dozen sharp blades. Prism was pacing around the room, her whip-thin tail lashing behind her, and when we both entered the room, her black eyes shot up to us.

"There you are!" She cried, rushing forward. "You were gone so long I was beginning to think you guys disappeared too! We were _so_ worried," she said rapidly, and from the bunk bed Sunset gave a small snort. "Well, _some_ of us were," she corrected, shooting a dirty look at Sunset. Sunset, obviously not caring, tucked her nose under her wing and went back to peacefully snoring.

"Woah, Mist!" Prism marveled, lifting a single wing so she could study it, which cased the scales along my nose to go red. "You're like, a blue and yellowish- _green_ color! What does that-woah, now there's a lot of yellow-green!" Frustrated, I whipped my wing away from the IceWing. "It _means_ I don't want to be bothered right now," I snapped, flapping to the bottom bunk of the bed I shared with Prism.

For a moment, Prism looked mildly hurt, and I felt small pinpricks of guilt stab at me. _Oh come on, Mist,_ I told myself fervently. _That dragon has the mind of a goldfish. She'll be fine._ Taking the note from Bonespeaker as I went, I collapsed on the mattress, and buried my face in the pillow to tune out Bonespeaker and Prism's muffled conversation.

 _Think Mist, think. That's one of the things you're good at; just do it! How in the world does this note possible connect with everything that's been going on?_ Pulling the pillow off my head, I stared at the note, trying my best to make sense of the gibberish displayed on the parchment. I couldn't even fathom where Bonespeaker had seen these words before; it had to be another language or something.

The only thing I was sure of was that this was connected to Shiver, and that someone had taken him. But the only question was...who? Suddenly, an idea bloomed in my head. Racing across the room, I grabbed some thumbtacks, along with the cork board that overhung the desk in our room, and brought it over to my bed, hanging it on the wall.

Taking out the note, I took a thumbtack and pinned it to the corkboard, then ripped a section of paper from the bottom, wrote "Shiver", and pinned it to the board. Rubbing my chin, I examined the board closely, then ran over to the desk and looked under the baskets that had been with the room, until I found a basket of string, obviously to be used for school projects.

 _Well, this involves school, and it's a project, so it works,_ I thought, grabbing a ball of red yarn, then using my talon to slice off a section, tying one end on the thumbtack holding the note in place and the other end on the thumbtack holding the word _Shiver._ When I was done, there were only two things on the cork board; the word _Shiver,_ and the note, connected by a red thread running between them.

Just as a smile crept between my lips, there was a crackling noise ad the intercom spring to life. "All students must report to bed immediately," a nasily voice declared. "Classes will begin at 8:00 sharp, and three tardies will result in a detention," the voice finished, before the crackling noise died down, and the school was cast back into eerie silence.

Huffing, I reluctantly climbed onto my bed, and listened to the soft rustling noises of Bonespeaker and Prism climbed into bed, then picked her ears for their steady breathing motions that indicated they had fallen asleep.

Once I was sure they were dozing peacefully, I crawled out of bed and bolted over to the bag I had brought with her from the rainforest, a small satchel made from large leaves. Opening the bag, I rummaged around until i finally pulled out a stack of paper and some charcoal and rushed to the board.

Now, I'm not the best artist, but I can draw better than most dragons I knew. Whipping out the piece of charcoal, I began rapidly sketching a dingle NightWing head shot, the scribbled the word _Bonespeaker_ on the bottom and tacked it o the board. With a piece of red string, I ran a line between Bonespeaker and the note, attaching a piece of paper to the the string with the single question _how did she know?_ Pausing for a moment, I then took the piece of charcoal again and wrote _suspect?_ under Bonesfeaker's name.

Admiring my handiwork, a loud yawn escaped my jaws, and I finally laid down and allowed myself to go to sleep. And I went to sleep, just before the shadowy figure disappeared through my window.


	9. VIII: Aki

**Chapter VIII | Bonespeaker**

* * *

 **I skipped breakfast the next day.**

In hein sight, it didn't make much sense, considering it was probably reasonable for the new students to go to the cafeteria and see the rest of the school, but that particular day I wasn't feeling very hungry. Sitting on my bed, I picked at a loose seam on my pillow as Prism and Mist both gathered their stuff.

"You sure you don't want to come to breakfast?" Prism asked, slinging her satchel over her shoulder. "I hear on the first day of school they bring in food from every tribe!" For a moment, sharp claws of hunger clawed at my stomach as the thought of a seagull of even a mango from the rainforest, but that quickly subsided as I remembered yesterday's events, quickly replaced with a nauseous feeling.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I insisted, and Prism shrugged, grabbing Mist's wing and rushing out the door. Mist, who had turned a shocked neon purple, shot Prism a death glare, and I shook my head. If we all had the same classes together, I couldn't guarantee that Prism would last half the day. "Well Sunset, are you coming?" Prism called to the SandWing gazing out the bay window.

Sunset didn't say anything, only huffed out a simple, "no." To be honest, she had been like that the whole time. Never speaking anything more than maybe six words at a time, for the first few hours I had started to think that Sunset was actually mute. Now though, she looked up at Prism with eyes like shards of obsidian, and Prism instantly backed off, while Mist turned a now murky purple.

Shutting the door in their wake, Prism and Mist's departure left me an eerie silence with the young SandWing. Sunset didn't make any effort to connect to me, only reached inside a small chest and pulled out a scroll. Uncomfortably, I shifted on my bed. I began to wonder if I should have gone to breakfast with Mist and Prism, but then I remembered that Mist and Heron had agreed that we all meet to talk about what had happened, and right now I didn't think that I could meet up with Heron, not after what had happened.

Just thinking about the gloves, sharp, involuntary tears stabbed at my eyes, because at that moment yesterday before the strange disappearance, before the utter pandemonium, there was Heron's performance with his gloves, and at that made moment I had been filled with a very dangerous emotion: hope.

A hope so strong it began as a fire, eating away at my insides until I was filled with a dangerous amount of it, building up inside of me and screaming to be let out. For so last long, I had lived with the constant reality of never being able to touch another dragon, but for once there was a reality where I would actually be able to touch another dragon, with this...this curse concealed by the gloves.

That turned out to be a bust. I could still remember Hydra's terrified look as he brushed against me, and even though it was a tiny brush, not nearly enough to kill him, it was just enough. And if that wasn't bad enough, the whole thing had raised Mist's suspicions towards me.

The RainWing wasn't an idiot. While she had been keeping a close eye on me since the encounter with Heron, I knew my reaction during the attack when Shiver disappeared hadn't helped at all. And yes, I say attack. While it may be just a bit of a strong word, it's the only word I could use to describe it.

I don't know what everyone else saw. I don't know if they saw lights or something else, but if all they saw was a bunch of flickering lights then they got off easy. I didn't have the luxury of being creeper out by a few flickering lights or some magical self locking doors or whatever.

What I heard was screaming. Real, blood-curtling, tortured screams. They dug under my scales, embedded themselves in my bones, became part of me until all I could hear was the screams. For some reason, it wasn't just the screams that terrified me. It was that they were so...supernatural.

Ever since I've come to this school, I knew right away there was something different about it; I couldn't see spirits. There were no forms, no lights, nothing. Just...silence, which for some reason I found unsettling. But at Shiver's disappearance, it was like it all came rushing at once, everything that I was missing at this school coming back in one big rush.

Ever since, I had been kind of...jittery, was the only way to put it. It was like I was expecting that same exact sensation to happen, kind of like I was always on edge. I guess it was noticeable, because from her spot on the windowsill, Sunset regarded me with an odd look. Shifting under the SandWing's gaze, I turned my head to the desk that sat beside the dorm door, trying to concentrate on a scroll I was halfway through, Niagra and the Mage's Heir, though I couldn't force my mind to comprehend Niagra, Beluga and Ripple's journey across the Bridge of Betrayal enough to fully get into it.

As my violet eyes scanned the page, reading the words but not fully comprehending them, I released a sigh and slammed my snout down on the desk. My mind kept wandering back to everything that had happened yesterday...Shiver's disappearance, the spirits shrieking, my accidentally touching Heron...it was all too much.

And then, it happened. A voice in my head that wasn't my own, a second voice, much quieter than what I was used to, but still there. _"You'll get it."_

Startled, I sat up in my seat, so suddenly that the pens and quills scattering the desk fell to the floor with loud clatters, causing Sunset to jump from her spot on the bed. Startled, the SandWing looked down at me. "Three moons, what was that for?" She cried, her black eyes glowering.

"What? Um, nothing. Just got to a really surprising spot in my scroll," I lied, scrambling to clumsily pick up the things I had knocked to the floor, but my mind never fully leaving the voice I had heard in my head.

Obvioisly not convinced, Sunset arched an eyebrow. "You're a strange little dragon, aren't you?" She asked, and I turned to meet her eyes. To be honest, I was a little surprised that Sunset had asked me. I didn't usually like to sterotype dragons, but Sunset's quiet yet suspicious attitude, plus the way she carried herseld like everyone should be afraid of her kind of made me peg her down as the typical thug, and moy exactly someone who jumped to conclusions very quickly.

Thinking of a response, I finally said, "well, maybe I am. We're all a bit strange; you can throw knives out of your claws." Shooting a strange smile, Sunset raised her talon and aimed it towards the back of the room, where a single blade shot out of her talon, and landed—not even kidding here—perfectly between two floorboards.

When my mouth gaped open, Sunset smiled triumphantly, as if she were glad someone were impressed with what she could do.

"I do have one question though," she said, pointing a single claw at me. "What can you do? I mean, I haven't really see you do anything, unless being creepy and anti-social counts." Ignoring that last part, I bit my lip, and turned away. Sunset wasn't like me. She actually had a gift, as did her brother. Me? I had a curse. And half of that curse wasn't even working, I hadn't heard any spirits here...had I?

I remembered that one voice I had heard in my head while I was reading. Was that a ghost? "Me? Um...it's not important," I muttered, brushing Sunset off as quickly as I could so that if I could see if that voice was still there. Sunset opened her mouth, looking as if she were about to persist, but I looked down at my scroll very quickly and triedy best to look deeply invested in it.

As soon as Sunset looked as if she had lost interest, I bit my lip and tried to concentrate. _Hello? Are you still there?_ I thought, calling out with me mind. Nervously drumming my claws on the desk, it was a few moments before I got an answer.

 _Yes_ , was the timid response, and although it was quiet and short, I practically leaped into the air with delight. Someone was there! _Do you know who I am?_ I thought, waiting quietly.

This time, it took a little bit longer to respond. _Yes. I saw you when you got here_ , they said, and for the first time I began to question things. Normally, when a spirit saw me, I could see them too.

 _Why couldn't I see you_? I asked, and the voice's response was almost immediate. I didn't want you to. Curiously, I cocked my head to the side, which must have looked very odd to Sunset. _Can I see you now?_ I asked, and for a while, the voice said nothing, and I thought that they had left.

 _Maybe_ , they finally said, and my face instantly fell. I guess they could somehow see my now, because when it did they said quickly, _but I can tell you my name. It's Aki._

Allowing a thin smile to stretch between my lips, I thought back, _nice to meet you, Aki. I'm Bonespeaker_. And then, for some reason I can't explain, I felt something. I'm not sure I know how to say it, but Aki's presence grew...lighter somehow. Almost happier. _Would you like to see something?_ Aki asked.

After a moment of hesitation, I nodded my head quickly. _Follow me_ , Aki said, and for a moment I sat there, confused. I couldn't see Aki, but I was supposed to follow her?

And then I saw it. A flash of a strange whitish-blue color by the door, and after a moment I realized it was...a tail? Shock surging through me, I leapt out of my seat so fast that it fell to the floor with a clatter, jolting Sunset out of her thoughts. "Gosh, what is it with you and knocking stuff over today?" Sunset said, but I could see she was smiling faintly.

However, I didn't have time to talk to Sunset right now. "I have to go," I said quickly, snatching my cloak off my bed and throwing it over my body. At my urgency, Sunset sat up, intrigued. "What? Why? Where are you going?" She asked, but I didn't have time to respond.

Clicking together the clasp on my cloak, I grasped the doorknob, following the tail out the door. Only thing is, as I watched it, it slowly morphed to a shape that...didn't really look like a tail. A whitish-blue wisp was the only way I could describe it.

Bolting down the corridor, I followed the wisp, and it was only when I heard the thundering of footsteps behind that I realized Sunset was following me. "Bonespeaker, where are you going?" She cried, and I shook her off, determined to follow the wisp.

It was a lengthy process, following the wisp, whom I was 97% sure was Aki, through the school, until finally, it stopped. Out of breath, I stood there, panting, giving Sunset enough time to catch up with me.

"Bonespeaker, what in the three moons was that?" she cried, her freckled face out of breath and irate. "When someone tells you to stop and tell them what the hell is going on, you stop and tell them what the hell is going on!"

Panting, I looked up, my violet eyes meeting Sunset's own black ones. Looking up, Sunset seemed to grow even angrier when she saw where we were. "Damn it, Bonespeaker! A freaking library? I chased you across half the school, you runming like your feet are on fire, for a damn library?"

Looking up, I finally saw where we were. A pair of grand double doors, carved from mahogany and laced with trails lf gold stood before us, a single silver plaque with the word Library hanging above it.

 _The library? Why would you bring me here?_ I asked, confusion rippling across my face. Still, I pushed open the door, curious to see just what Aki had wanted me to see.

To be honest, the school library wasn't much different from every other library I had seen. If you were expecting something amazing like a floor to ceiling aquarium or magical robot librarians, then I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken.

Upon every wall, there were rows and rows of various shelves, each one stretching floor to ceiling in the massive room. Scrolls upons scrolls lined each one, some looking like they were brand new, others looking dusty as if they hadn't been removed from the shelf in years. The center of the room was home to more bronze scroll racks, as well as a purple circular carpet and several tables and chairs.

 _Mist would love it here_ , I thought, remembering the bookish RainWing, and made a mental note to bring her here.

" _Bonespeaker!_ Are you even listening to me?" Sunset cried, and the SandWing's voice jolted me out of my thoughts, back to reality. It was then that I realized there was an odd dinging sound going off, like a tiny mallet hitting a single bell.

" _Bonespeaker!_ That's the bell! We have to go to class!" Sunset called, reaching out to grab my arm, which I quickly yanked away for obvious reasons.

"Sunset, what I'm doing is so much bigger than school," I said, without fully knowing if it was true myself. Sunset, however, simply shook her head and muttered a few curses that I was certain weren't allowed at school.

"You wanted to know what my abilities are? This involves it, and I think it has something to do with Shiver's disappearance!" This situation escalated really fast, I thought to myself. Why did Sunset have to be so damn stubborn?

With a sigh, Sunset shook her head again (which I was beginning to realize she did a lot) as if she didn't quite believe what I was saying, but just decided to stop arguing and go along with it. For once, I was thankful that Sunset was with me, and not Mist or Heron, because if I said I knew something about Shiver's disappearance to either of them, there was a chancd they would tell Headmistress Secretflame, and I really didn't want to have that conversation.

Sunset though, while I would never say it to her, seemed to have little respect for authority, which I assumed was why she didn't say anything. To be honest, I was particularly grateful for that, considering I wasn't sure whether this had anything to do with Shiver's disappearance either.

"Fine. Find whatever you what to find," Sunset huffed, but I still realized she was going to follow me. Glancing back, I just managed to glimpse the hovering whitish-blue orb that was Aki disappear behind a corner, and I quickly rushed to follow her.

When I finally caught up to her, I found Aki hovering in front of a single scroll rack, the orb that was her pulsing with energy. This one, her voice said in my mind, and with one talon I reached out to grab the scroll Aki was in front of.

Squinting my eyes, I cocked my head as I tried to make sense of the words in front of me. "Dracones de Mundo", I read, and Sunset's head appeared over my shoulder.

"Dracones de Mundo? Do you understand that?" Sunset asked, a hint of skepticism in her voice. I, however, was forced to shake my head as Sunset grabbed the scroll from me and opened it up. As she scanned through the words, her frown grew deeper as she went on.

"This is all just gibberish," She muttered, obvioisly confused. "Why in the three moons did you possibly need this?" I couldn't answer, so for a second I just stood there, my mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

 _Aki, why did you need me to get this?_ I asked, wondering if my thoughts sounded as confused as I felt.

 _I can help,_ Aki said, and for a moment I wondered what the heck that was supposed to mean. Then, as if by magic, the words Dracones de Mundo seemed to fold away, or rather, something in my mind just clicked. The words on the scroll no longer seemed to be gibberish, and I watched them melt away into something I could actually understand.

"Dragons of the World," I read. Surprised, Sunset looked up at me. "What?" She asked, startled. "Dragons of the World," I repeated, shaking the scroll in her face. "That's what it says."

"You mean, you can understand that?" Sunset said, obviously apalled. Cocking my head, I looked down at the scroll. "Yeah," I said finally. "I guess I can."

This Aki...whoever she was, was apparently dead, could alter my brain so that I could understand strange languages, and apparently knew something in this book that could help me.

Which left just one question.

Who _was_ Aki?


	10. IX: Surprise

**Chapter IX | Sunset**

* * *

 **If chasing a NightWing halfway through the school just for a lousy book in gibberish wasn't weird enough, then it was the odd mundanity that came after it.**

I mean, come on; when someone thinks about going on a whole chase scene through a school only to find some book, most dragons would think about the beginning of something big or legendary; like in the scrolls pretty much everyone thinks life should run by. The only thing is, most authors of those scrolls fail to acknowledge reality, and the brutal truth is that in reality, life still goes on.

In those scrolls, after the hero finds something like a book in another language, they go on and start trying to decode the language and what not. Hardly they'll ever have to actually go to school afterwards, because in most books the hero is "too great and legendary for something as mundane as school".

The brutal truth is, though, that that's not actually how it works, and most dragonets actually have a life that involves school. If it was my choice, I would be back in the Sand Kingdom, about to serve in Queen Aloe's army, becoming a great knight or anything like that. Being sent to some dopey school wasn't exactly part of the plan. She still couldn't see how Jackal even mildly wanted to go; she still remembered the argument that had rumbled through the house that night.

 _"Jackal, think about it! Do you really want to go to some freak show?"_

 _"Sunset, it's not a freak show; we might actually go somewhere we could belong-"_

 _"Are you kidding me? We could actually be important if we joined the army, but instead you want to be corralled with a bunch of other freaks?"  
_

I still remembered the way Jackal had flinched every time I said the word _freak,_ but at that time, I didn't even care. It's what we are. Freaks. We're freaks, and as much as I wanted to deny it, that's the solid truth. At that point, running away seemed better than being sent off to some weird school. But still, even though being sent off to some freak show seemed to be the equivalent of hell itself, I knew going anywhere without Jackal was pointless; that was why I wanted to join the army together.

 _Well, that argument went great,_ I thought as I fiddled with a piece of charcoal in her claws, resisting the urge to use a long blade to pin it to the wall. Then again, if I was going to pin anything to the wall, I would rather have it be the professor's head than a piece of charcoal.

Glancing up, I had barely acknowledged the professor when he walked into the classroom, and I didn't have any desire to now. He was a SandWing, but I've only ever seen one kind of SandWing, and those are the ones you find in the Scorpion Den. In the Scorpion Den, dragons fit into two categories: big, muscle-bound criminals or sleazy, wiry con artists. Looking at Professor Gobi, I didn't see how he would fit into either.

He was no where near big and muscle-bound, and had more the body type of a con artist, but the second he walked into the room, I could tell he didn't act like one. At first, I couldn't even see his face; it was hidden behind half a mountain of scrolls. "Good morning class, I'm your teacher, Professor Gobi-" he said, walking into the room, but before he could get out a full sentence, he was clipped short when he tripped over a loose floorboard.

He barely had time to put his arms out before he fell to the floor, scattering scrolls everywhere. Honestly, it was all I could do not to cringe as he adjusted his glasses on his nose, picking up his scrolls and muttering to himself about "out of date buildings" and "better care of classrooms".

By the time he had picked up all his stuff, half the class had either stopped paying attention or was trying not to start laughing hysterically, me being the latter. Already, I had lost interest in this guy, who clearly wasn't capable of carrying a stack of scrolls into a classroom, much less watching over a bunch of minors for an hour.

Groaning, I leaned forward, slamming my snout into the table. It hurt, but I figured anything would be better than being submitted to this kind of torment for the next hour. _"Will you shut up? Some of us are trying to listen!"_ An angry voice whisper-hissed, and at that moment I was starting to seriously regret having a class with Mist.

With the RainWing being in my dorm, I knew that it was impossible to escape having at least _one_ class with her, but _three moons come_ on. So far, Mist had proved herself to be annoying know-it-all who always assumed she was the smartest in the room, which had quickly started to grate on my nerves.

As much as I wanted to chew her out for being such a puss, I managed to hold my tongue instead and merely gave her a look. As much as I pretended I wasn't, I knew I wasn't exactly as daunting and Jackal—while he had a scar lacing over his eye, I had some _very terrifying_ freckles. Still, I had learned a while ago in the Scorpion Den that I could be pretty intimidating when I wanted to.

As I gave Mist a withering look, the RainWing seemed to remain mainly hues of blue and purple, but stripes of lily green zigzagged across her scales, and she quickly averted her eyes. _Good,_ I thought, settling back in my seat. Call me crazy, but for some reason I found myself wishing that I had this class with Bonespeaker instead of Mist.

Even though her erratic behavior earlier had been kind of annoying and freaked me out a little, for some really odd reason I kind of liked her in the way that was different from other dragons. As I spoke to her, she seemed...interesting. She push someone to talk, and was comfortable with silence rather than feeling like she had to talk all the time.

But I think the thing that interested me about her the most was how different she was from me. She had these ideas about the rest of the world that I had never thought of, and her mind seemed to work differently from everyone else's. Simply put, I just... _liked_ her, which was something I could only say about three other dragons in the world: Jackal, out mother Athaza, and our older brother, Taupe, two of whom I had left behind in the Sand Kingdom, so I guess it was...kind of nice to have someone at this school besides Jackal that I kind of liked.

"Okay, class—sorry about that!" Professor Gobi called, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses as he stood on the podium, and quickly yanking Sunset out of her thoughts. Glancing over, Sunset saw that the scrolls he had spilled, rather than being put onto the nearby scroll rack had been hastily piled onto a table, and Sunset rolled her eyes. This dragon couldn't be trusted to successfully carry in a stock of scrolls, much less care for a classroom full of dragonets. Huffing, Sunset slid down in her seat.

"My name is Professor Gobi, and I'll be your educator in the history of gifted dragons!" He went on with such enthusiasm that I was skeptical how anyone could be that excited about things that had happened years before any of them were born. _What a nerd,_ she thought, then glanced over at Mist. The young dragon had scooted herself closer to the table, a look of excitement crossing her face, sudden spurts of gold almost outweighing the blue and purple.

 _Right. I'm partnered with an even bigger nerd._ Annoyed, I slumped down even farther.

"Now, I know that when you think of gifted dragons you don't exactly associate it with history class, but I assure you the history of gifted dragons in Pyrrhia is quite exciting!" Professor Gobi went on, waving at the map of Perth like it was a neon sign or something worth a million coins, and from the way he looked at it you would think he thought it was one of those. However, as he spoke I couldn't help noticing how much he said the word _gifted_ and not anything else, like he was avoiding something.

 _What? Specimen? Cursed?_ Sunset thought. _"Don't you mean freaks?"_ I muttered under my breath with such bitterness it surprised even me, but truthfully I didn't really care. Like I said before, it was the cold truth, but our of the corner of my eye I caught Mist glancing at me. As she did, small dots of an odd shade of green speckled her gold scales, which intrigued me, but I didn't really care enough to figure out what they meant.

"It must seem like your all alone it this, but quite frankly gifted dragons, while in small amounts, have actually gone as far back as the Scorching!" Professor Gobi went on beaming, grabbing a stick that was resting on his podium and using it to jab at the map. "The first reports of unusual behavior interestingly enough sprang up in the Mud Kingdom in around 5 A.S, but were quickly covered up by the queen at the time, Queen Sorrel," Professor Gobi went on, circling a spot near the Mud Kingdom with his claw that bordered the Rainforest.

"Not much is known about that, but witnesses reported seeing a dragon that was a MudWing one moment and a crane the next," Professor Gobi went on, adjusting his glasses, which I was beginning to notice he did quite often. "See, this is the interesting part about gifted abilities—in most tribes, the ability of one dragon is related to the tribe themselves," Professor Gobi went on, turning around to write something on the chalkboard behind him with a chunk of chalk. "You see, the MudWing had the power to shape-shift, which supports the theory that MudWing are mainly focused on transformation," he went on, and as he spoke I caught mist making a quick glance at a MudWing at the back of the room wearing a pair of leather gloves; beside him a SkyWing with unusual violet eyes.

 _Isn't that the guy who turned stuff to gold yesterday?_ I thought. It seemed kind of odd that Mist would know him, but then again, she was gone from the dorm for a while yesterday after they locked down the White Room. "With IceWings, their abilities are more focused on pristine and universal things, while RainWings tend to focus on the forces of nature," Professor Gobi went on, scribbling words onto the board as he spoke.

As Professor Gobi went on, a thought suddenly popped into my mind. I don't know why. I don't know how. It just seemed to be a spur-of-the moment decision, made in the blink of an eye, not even being thought about. I preferred to keep a low profile, make it so that I disappeared into the shadows, but as the professor continued to explain the traits of each tribe, I couldn't help it. I wasn't about to raise my hand, so without thinking I just blurted out,

"Has any 'gifted' dragon ever lost their abilities?"

For a moment, Professor Gobi looked taken aback, startled that anyone had actually asked a question in his class. Pushing his glasses farther up on his nose, he turned around, then squinted his eyes. "Who said that?" He asked, scanning the classroom, and I sat forward. "Me," I said simply. I couldn't help it; I got a small prick of satisfaction at the surprised bursts of orangey-purple on Mist's scales.

"I'm just saying; is having _abilities_ something permanent like a birth defect, or has anyone ever lost their abilities?" I probably should have felt a bit embarrassed or self-conscious about the silence in the classroom that followed, but if I'm being honest, I didn't exactly live for these dragon's opinions. They thought what they thought about their so-called "gifts", and I thought what I thought. If I had a question, I should feel free to ask it.

Professor Gobi was obviously taken aback by the question. "I-um-well I," he stuttered, searching for the right words. "Well, since being gifted is typically something one is born with, chances are it's some sort of genetic mutation, so it hasn't exactly been explored whether or not one could get rid of their abilities."

"But has someone ever done it before?"

"Not that I know of—"

"But what if someone _wanted_ to get rid of their abilities? Is that possible?"

 _You probably shouldn't be asking these questions in front of the whole class,_ a small voice at the back of my head whispered, and for a moment I took a moment to take notice of all the pairs of eyes watching me, some surprised, some confused. However, I quickly blocked them out. I could feel my voice gradually getting louder as I spoke, more frustrated and angry with each passing moment.

"Well, Miss, ah—" Professor Gobi went on, obviously waiting for my name. I stayed silent. This guy was my professor, and besides everyone was watching—if I was gonna ask all these questions, it would be better if it was like the Scorpion Den and I refused to give anyone my name.

At my silence, Professor Gobi realized I wasn't going to say anything and cleared his throat. "Well Miss, this doesn't seem like an appropriate question at the moment..."

"Well, now is as good a time as any!" I continued, my voice continuing to rise. I felt a small tug at my wing. "Um, Sunset, maybe you should calm down," Mist whispered, flakes of green swirling in her wings. I shrugged her talon off; this wasn't her issue. Whatever she could do, it was probably something annoyingly sweet from what Professor Gobi had said about RainWing abilities, like talking to sloths or making flowers grow.

She didn't grow up in the Scorpion Den, and she didn't have anything that actually _wasn't_ helpful, something that could cause you to stick to the shadows, isolate yourself from other dragons.

Something that could actually hurt people.

"Well, I don't think that this is my place. Honestly, this is beyond my field of expertise—" Professor Gobi went on, and that's when I realized something: this guy couldn't help me. No one could. And for some reason, the fact that he couldn't help me made me angrier than I had been all day; for some reason, I felt a white hot rage coursing through me, like someone had lit fire to my veins.

"Well then maybe you should just shut your damn trap!" I screamed, slamming my talons down on the table. Sharp shards like knives shot out of my talons, sticking themselves in the table and shooting right through the wood.

I didn't stay long enough to see what happened afterwards. I didn't even listen to the surprised cries. I was out of that classroom before anyone could look at me. Pushing open the door, I raced from the room, holding back tears.

I was from the Scorpion Den. I had faced years of con-artists, criminals, and murder on the streets. You didn't survive in the Scorpion Den by crying. Choking back my tears, I tried to keep my feeling of hopelessness at bay as I raced through the halls, biting down on my lip.

It wasn't until I had at least crossed half the school before I finally realized the ignorance in what I had done. By now, I was right outside the bathrooms in the girl's side of the school, the sounds of the classrooms now in the distance. My tail writhing back and forth in frustration, I raced into the bathroom and slammed my talons against the mirror, small cracks blooming from the impact.

"Damn it Sunset. _Damn it!"_ I screamed at myself. My reflection stared back at me, silent, my own face mocking me. The one thing you don't do? Scream out your insecurities in front of the whole school. When you try to keep a low profile, the one thing you don't do is make sure everyone knows exactly how you feel. Taking deep breaths, I leaned my head against the mirror, trying to recompose myself.

Yeah so, I wasn't going back to the classroom. That was a given; if I wasn't near tears, I would have laughed at the thought. The best I could do right now was just wait in here until the class was over. And maybe the next class after that. And the class after that. Honestly, I didn't really feel like "school" anymore—at this point, it seemed like an alien term.

"Yeah, Sunset. Real cool of you. Really cool." I muttered sarcastically, but the truth is, there's no point in being sarcastic if you're the only one to be sarcastic to. Staring back at my own refection, I studied myself: small sprinkling of freckles, narrow, prim face, everything a hardened criminal shouldn't be. Maybe I shouldn't be here. Then again, this bathroom was starting to sound like a good place to spend the rest of the day.

Glancing behind me, I saw everything that should be in a bathroom: tiles lined the floor and walls, about six green stalls on the back wall, and on the floor, there was a small pool of red...

My heart almost stopped. Sucking in my breath, my eyes darted to the pool of crimson staining the bathroom floor, slowly growing larger and larger. _What the f***?_ I thought, feeling every muscle in my body tense up. What was this? Some kind of sick joke? Slowly stepping forward, I looked at the small pool of red, and realized with a sick realization what it actually was: blood.

Instantly, my mind began whirring in a million directions at once. First Shiver's disappearance and now this? The school was going to go into a panic. Was someone _dead?_ The thought of someone dying sent a sick feeling into my stomach, like someone had punched me in the gut.

Very, very slowly, I pushed open the door, and stopped. Behind that door was a MudWing, a girl I was pretty sure, her eyes closed, a thick gash cut into her neck. And I'm pretty sure she was already dead.


	11. X: Secrets

**Chapter X • Hydra**

* * *

As soon as he saw the classroom, Hydra knew he would be eaten alive.

Maybe, in a part far inside him, tucked deep away, he had a small tingling sensation of hope that he would at the very least get out of the classroom alive.

But then again, that was like already being in the mouth of the shark and saying how you would be home for dinner.

The two words carved in brass in the door stared down at him like a pair of eyes, taunting him, causing his heart rate to speed up a thousand times faster.

Combat practice.

Talons gripping the floor, for a moment Hydra just stood there, trying his best to control his breathing. He still remembered so-called "combat practice" with his brothers back at home; though he doubted being mercilessly tossed back and forth like a punching bag counted as combat practice.

Come on, Hydra. It's just combat practice. What could go wrong? Even in his own head, Hydra didn't believe himself. He had never been the most athletic dragon. He still remembered his so called "combat practice" with his brothers, though he wasn't sure being tossed mercilessly back and forth like a bean bag counted as combat practice.

Still, his brothers weren't here now. They were in Possibility, miles away from here, and far away from where they could ever hurt him. Come on, Hydra, you can do this. Remember your breathing. In and out. In and out, he thought. He could do this. He could do this.

"Dude, are you coming?" A sharp voice said suddenly, violently yanking Hydra out of his thoughts. Jolting his head up, Hydra caught sight of a young SkyWing with scales that glittered a vibrant red and horns that curved up like waves on the water. Violet eyes gleaming, Eagle shot the SeaWing a wide smile as he nudged his roommate with the side of his wing.

"Uh...yeah. Yeah, I'm coming," Hydra managed to sputter, though even to himself he sounded like a blubbering walrus. He hated when he got like this; whenever he was nervous, he sounded like a newborn dragonet rather than a four-year-old.

When he was around Eagle, it was even worse. The SkyWing walked around with such a high, joking confidence, that Hydra always felt like a roach by default.

"Uh...Hydra, are you getting shorter?" Eagle asked, cocking his head to the side. Glancing down, Hydra saw in dismay that his legs had in fact shrunk down a few inches, making him even shorter than he already was.

"Oh, um...sorry," he muttered, feeling his face flush pink as he tried to return to his full height. Over the years, Hydra had noticed that depending on how he felt effected how big he was; whether he was in a ball crying or just nervous, he would shrink without any control of it at all.

For the most part it was just annoying; Hydra could already picture himself shrinking to the size of a flea when he tried to jump over hurdles during combat practice.

From behind him, Hydra felt a light tap on his shoulder as he felt the cool sensation of scales brushing past his own as he glanced over and saw Heron's bulky build sliding past him.

Meeting his eyes, Heron looked over at Hydra and gave a faint smile, pulling at his gloves. He's been doing that a lot ever since Bonespeaker took them, Hydra noticed. Like he's worried he'll lose them again.

"You know Hydra," Heron said. "You don't have to apologize for everything."

Hydra suddenly felt his ears turn pink. "Sor—" he began, then suddenly remembered what he was doing and quickly snapped his snout shut.

As Hydra did so, Eagle made a sound like he was snickering, but quickly stifled it. It wasn't in a mean oh-my-gosh-this-guy-is-such-a-loser kind of way, but more of a...well, Hydra couldn't quite place it. Most of the laughs he heard were from his brothers, and they rarely had any kind of laugh other than the first one.

Before Hydra could say anything else, he felt himself be violently shouldered out of the way, stumbling on the marble floors. Glancing up, Hydra just barely managed to dodge a SandWing barb, swinging back and forth carelessly. It took him a moment to remember it was Jackal; whom he had nearly forgotten was there, as he hadn't spoken the whole time. His pale yellow scales glinted in the fluorescent lighting, and as he shoved Hydra to the side, he made no move to apologize.

Still, Eagle obviously saw. "Hey man, was that really—" he started, but quickly silenced himself when Jackal turned to him, his scar flashing. Wordlessly, the SandWing walked the rest of the way to the combat room, not bothering to look behind him.

Trying to remain the same height, Hydra felt Heron's firm talons on his shoulder as he helped him up. He must have seen the surprised look in his eyes, as Heron merely shrugged with sympathy. "Don't worry about him," he said. "Yeah," Eagle added. "He's just a jerk."

As Jackal opened the door, Heron thought he saw his ears prick; though if he heard them he gave no indication of whether he cared or not.

Hydra tried giving a small smile to Heron and Eagle, and finally followed Jackal to the combat room, where he pushed open the door.

And that's when he knew he was going to die today.

The room was quite large; with enough room for a dragon to run and fly around it with room to spare. The floor was made from polished wood, covered in painted red designs that Hydra didn't quite understand.

Hurdles and dips lined the floor, along with what looked like upside-down hurdles on the ceiling; probably for flying practice. There were a bunch more devices Hydra couldn't name; but in the center of the room sat a large circle that looked like it was painted on; but Hydra saw grooves and hinges embedded in it, like it opened up to reveal something else.

Hydra gulped. He would be lucky if he survived the first five minutes.

Strewn around the room were a set of girls, presumably from the same dorm: a SeaWing and sleepy looking RainWing talking quietly to one another; though the SeaWing seemed to be doing most of the talking while the RainWing blinked languidly. Near the ceiling, a SkyWing flew through the hurdles built into the ceiling in a series of dips and turns, ans some kind of twist that Hydra knew would dislocate his shoulder if he attempted it.

Hydra swallowed the gathering lump in his throat, putting in a conscious effort to remain at his same size, though he could have sworn everything got a little bit bigger.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE; GET IN A LINE!" A voice suddenly boomed, practically giving Hydra a collective heart attack. Jumping out of his scales, Hydra whipped his head around, his ears standing up high.

"What the hell?" Eagle muttered, covering his ears as one of his horns spontaneously burst into flames. From across the gym, the SeaWing girl covered her ears, and the RainWing girl let out a cry of surprise as one of the rings hanging from the ceiling started vibrating until it flew off of the stick it was hanging on, and flew towards a head-on collision with her skull, which she just narrowly ducked.

"Mizu!" She cried out accusingly at the SeaWing girl, and the SeaWing cringed.

"Sorry, Cabana!" She apologized quickly. Hydra raised the arches above his eyes curiously as he glanced at the SeaWing girl, who had apparently caused the metal ring to fly across the room. Her scales weren't exactly blue; more of a blue-gray—no, gray didn't seem like the right word. More like a sort of shiny blue-silver—yeah, that was it. He couldn't help but notice her; he knew what it was like to not be fully able to control your powers.

"ENOUGH APOLOGIZING, CUPCAKES!" The voice boomed again, and this time Hydra looked over to his right to see a small door in the side of the room that he hadn't noticed before fly open to reveal a large MudWing. His scales were a dark brown with no amber underscales or anything—just a deep, pure brown. His eyes glinted out of his face like a pair of pale yellow orbs, a jagged scar crossed over his mouth, kind of like Jackal's.

"YOU ALL HEARD ME; LINE UP!" Startled, Hydra found his claws scrambling across the slick floor in a mad attempt to get in a line along with the other students. Biting his lip, Hydra stood up as straight as he could, feeling small droplets of sweat beading on his forehead from stress. Still, he found himself frustratingly shorter than the rest of the dragons there.

For a moment, the room was deathly silent as the MudWing trotted slowly towards their crude little line, his eyes narrowed to hard glints as his footsteps echoed on the floor. His eyes glanced over each one of the dragonets, looking them up and down as if to see how long they would last.

Hydra wasn't completely sure, as he hadn't bothered to look, but he was pretty certain that Heron was on his left, as he could see out of the corner of his eye his clenching talons as the MudWing teacher—or whatever he was—inspected him for an unusually long time. Glancing to his right, he saw to his surprise, it was the same SeaWing girl, Mizu, with the silvery-blue scales; and up close he saw that her eyes were unlike any other SeaWing eyes that he had seen. They were kind of silver, with small golden flecks so that they looked almost metallic.

She watched the MudWing with a kind of scared nervousness, and out of the corner of his eye, Hydra saw the same metal ring that had almost decapitated that RainWing, Cabana, vibrating faintly. _She controls metal,_ he realized, widening his eyes. That would explain the odd silvery scales and eyes; though they were odd in a kind of pretty way. As he stood there, Hydra kept looking at her out of the corner of his eye, quickly looking away when he thought she saw him.

 _I want to say something to her,_ he realized but the thought practically made his stomach turn inside-out. That was a bad idea. He didn't even really have to think about it; but he knew it was bad. Every time he tried to say something to a stranger, he would spend all this time thinking about what to say, but as soon as the time came, the words would melt off of his tongue like butter, and he would just stand there with his mouth opening and closing like a floundering goldfish.

Still, he wanted to say _something._ It was better than just standing somewhere and waiting for this MudWing, who may or may not have been the teacher, to say something. "He's kind of weird, isn't he?" He whispered, just low enough so that the teacher wouldn't be able to hear him.

For a moment, Mizu looked startled, then glanced around, as if looking to see if he was talking to someone else. When it was verified he wasn't, she looked down at him; and Hydra realized in dismay that she was taller than him. "Who, him?" She asked. Her voice sounded like that tinkling sound that bells make when you ring them together; kind of sweet, but also a bit hard. Hydra tried to control the sweat rolling down his face; nothing was grosser than someone who couldn't stop sweating.

"I mean, it's like he's really loud one moment, and then quiet the next, right?" He whispered, and Mizu snickered a bit. Hydra liked the sound of her laugh. It was like a thousand bells ringing at once.

Finally, just as Hydra was working up the nerve to say something else, the MudWing spoke in a deep, gravelly voice.

"So. I bet you all think you're something special, don't you?" He scoffed, inspecting each of the dragonets like they were grease stains on his immaculate gym floor. "Think that just because you've got all these special abilities you're someone who can just do whatever they want?"

 _That sounds like the exact opposite of me,_ Hydra thought, thinking about how even though he was "gifted" or whatever he was still incredibly lame compared to other dragonets at the school. But he managed to keep his snout shut; he figured this guy wouldn't appreciate complaining.

Suddenly, the MudWing stopped at stretched out his wings with no warning reaching them out as far as the could so that the ceiling lights filtered through the membrane, making them glow gold.

What happened next was so odd Hydra had to rub his eyes twice to make sure he wasn't seeing things. For a moment, everything seemed quiet and still, but then Hydra realized something—this MudWing, whoever he was, was changing color. Gray, to be exact. It started out in his wingtips, then slowly traveled through his body, bleeding through it like someone had spilled rapidly-spreading ink on his wingtips.

Only thing was, where his body turned gray, it appeared to be more _solid_ —more compact, with little dents and crevices in the surface. _That's not gray,_ Hydra thought to himself. _That's stone._ The MudWing was turning to stone right in front of everyone.

When he finished, he looked up, the same brown eyes glinting out of his head. "Let me just tell you something. My name is Professor Bayou, and in this classroom, that's not going to work."

Hydra gulped again, trying to swallow the lump slowly building up in his throat again. Something about this teacher made him more nervous than any sane dragon should make him.

"IN THIS CLASS, YOU WILL BE PUSHED TO THE LIMIT! YOU WILL SWEAT! YOU WILL CRY! YOU MAY EVEN LOSE THE USE OF ONE OF YOUR BODY PARTS!" The MudWing, who was apparently Bayou, announced, his brown eyes gleaming. Hydra felt like his lungs had dropped to his stomach. He had thought that the day that IceWing, Shiver disappeared had been one of the most upsetting days at his life, but now this was coming at a close second.

At least when he practiced "combat" with his brothers, they were the only ones around. Now, he would be embarrassing himself in front of everyone. Self consciously, he glanced at Mizu, who had turned her attention back to Professor Bayou. He _really_ didn't want her to see him mess up.

"YOU THERE! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" Professor Bayou boomed, and for a single, terrifying moment Hydra thought he was pointing at him, which made him want to crawl into a shell and hide for the rest of eternity. But then Professor Bayou's eyesight shifted a few paces to his right, and Hydra saw that his attention was actually focused on that same SkyWing girl he had seen flying through the hurdles a few moments earlier.

Her scales were a vibrant, almost neon red, as if they were glowing with their own energy. Her eyes were a bright yellow, like a pair of suns right above her snout, gleaming with a kind of danger that made Hydra uncomfortable.

"Russet," she replied in a kind of lofty voice. Professor Bayou glanced at the clipboard he had in his talons, then back up at all of them and frowned.

"WELL, RUSSET; AREN'T THERE SUPPOSED TO BE EIGHT OF YOU HERE?" He boomed, and Hydra glanced around him. He was right; there were supposed to be four people in each dorm, and it looked like everyone from each dorm was supposed to be there, but there were only seven students standing present.

Russet gave a small shrug. "I think I saw our MudWing, Lilypad go to the bathroom; but she just never came back."

Hydra didn't know what he was thinking. He wasn't sure what pushed him to do this; maybe it was the opportunity to get out of combat practice, or maybe he was just genuinely wondering about this girl, Lilypad. It was more likely the first one rather than the second one, but before anyone could say anything else, Hydra suddenly cried out, "I can go check on her!"

Suddenly, Professor Bayou's attention was pulled to Hydra, as if he had just noticed for the first time that he was there. Glancing once more at his clipboard, Professor Bayou looked up at Hydra one more time and squinted, as if wondering when he had gotten there.

"Well," he began, but Hydra didn't wait for a response. He took it as a yes, and quickly charged out of the room as fast as his legs coukd carry him.

Letting the door slam behind him, Hydra stood outside for a moment, taking deep breaths. He hadn't realized how fast his heart had been beating until he was outside the door, hearing it thump rapidly in his chest like a boombox. He didn't realize why he was so stressed; he was just around other dragons.

That's it: he was around other dragons. He didn't know why, but for some reason being in social situations always made his heart rate speed up by about a billion. He wasn't sure why, it just kind of happened.

Whatever; now wasn't the time to reminisce about his "social status" or whatever. Wasn't he supposed to be looking for the girl's bathroom?

Standing up, Hydra trudged around the hallways, searching until he finally came across a pale pink door with the word "Girls" sprawled across the top. Opening the door just a crack, Hydra peaked in. What was that girl's name again?

"Uh...Lilypad? Are you in here?"

"Oh, is that what her name is?"

Hydra froze. He'd never met Lilypad, but he was fairly certain that wasn't her. This voice sounded kind of rough but also feminine, but Hydra was sure he heard it before.

"Jackal's sister?" He mumbled, prying the door open a bit more. Images of the day Shiver disappeared flashed through his mind, as he saw Jackal fighting those bullets with another SandWing girl who resembled him. He had guessed she was his sister, and from the sound of it he was right.

"Gee, thanks. Not like I have a name or whatever," she mumbled, but even though she spoke with a kind of cocky confidence, her voice trembled as she spoke, like she was trying to hide something else.

Something was wrong.

Slowly opening the door, Hydra peaked inside and saw a MudWing body laying sprawled on the floor.


End file.
